Hawks knocked out in consolation semis, go home

MONTREAL, Que. – The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks’ womens’ soccer team have played all season long living up to great expectations, but in one tournament gone wrong, the team has finally been silenced.

In their last, and essentially meaningless game, the Hawks played Trinity Western University in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) consolation semi-finals and came away with a 1-0 loss.

Despite possessing a majority of the game’s chances and pressing hard all match, the Hawks couldn’t connect on any of the through balls or get past the TWU defence or goaltender Cara Santaga.

“[Head coach] Barry [MacLean] framed it pretty well,” said assistant coach Niki Budalic after MacLean was suspended by the league for his publicized criticism directed towards past games’ officials. “He said we can either come out feeling sorry for ourselves or we can show what we’re made of.”

Julia Marchese and Emily Brown had the Hawks’ best scoring chances. Marchese headed the ball just wide of the net in the second half. Brown had three quality strikes in one flurry and her last was from her stomach.

Santaga made a number of quality saves to preserve the shutout and as the game wore on, Laurier looked more and more deflated as their season came to an end.

And in the 30th minute, TWU striker Alicia Tesan came off the bench and scored a goal off a defensive breakdown and a turnover by the purple and gold. Tesan would later leave the game with an ankle injury.

“We are what we are because of them,” said Budalic of his graduating players. “They put everything above themselves.”

Budalic commented that next year will be a transition year, as Laurier is losing seven key players in their lineup: Becca Isaacs, Nicole Currie, Heather Malizia, Tania Pedron, Julia Marchese, Alyssa Lagonia and Sadie Anderson.

Laurier will finish in either seventh or eighth in the tournament.

Look for more on this tournament in Wednesday’s edition of The Cord.