Marauders fall short to the powerhouse Gaels

WATERLOO, ON – Despite a ferocious effort, the McMaster Marauders just couldn’t sneak a win.

The nationally-ranked No.4 Queen’s Gaels defeated the No.10 Marauders 3-0 Saturday afternoon in women’s soccer final four Ontario University Athletics’ (OUA) action at University Stadium.

As a result, McMaster will play the Ottawa Gee-Gees for the bronze medal Sunday while Queen’s faces the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in a rematch of last year’s gold medal game.

Heavy pressure was put on by the Gaels from the opening kick, but the squad was held to three goals by a stellar performance from McMaster goalkeeper Brittany Duffey.

“Our biggest challenge today was marking the forwards,” Duffey said. “[We tried] to stop through-balls and breakaways but we gave away a lot of free kicks.”

The Markham native managed to keep the Marauders in the game for the first 28 minutes of the opening half, but couldn’t stop Jackie Tessier as she snuck one passed Duffey to make it 1-0.

The Marauders would push back with strong offence late in the first half. McMaster saw their best opportunity off a corner kick pass to defender Kathleen Perri. Perri’s shot was headed for the top corner until Queen’s net minder Chantal Mason easily deflected it over the top of the net.

McMaster’s first shot came in the 40th minute by Stephanie Daris, but was easily stopped by Queen’s netminder Chantal Mason.

Tessier would add her second of the game in the 63rd minute when a free kick by Mikyla Kay found Tessier’s head and soared passed Duffey.

Gaels midfielder Riley Filion rounded out the scoring after McMaster midfielder Kirsten Lowe received a red card in the 44th minute for taking down Tessier.

“We tried our best,” Duffey commented. “That’s all we can do, and we’ve got to come ready for tomorrow.

[Ottawa] is going to put up a great fight, but we’re such a different team and we’ve got to bounce back from this game, and we’ve made mistakes that we can fix tomorrow.”

McMaster head coach Brett Mosen also commented on the effort of the lady squad. “I thought they competed very well. I was proud of their attitude and commitment toward the game. [Queens] was a very strong side and deserved the win, but hopefully we can learn from the loss.”

McMaster will try to capture the bronze medal against the No. 6 Ottawa Gee-Gees Sunday afternoon. The game is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m.

Mosen expects nothing less than a strong effort from the Marauder squad, and sees the girls picking up their spirits and heading in to the game strong.

“Maybe the disappointment from today can turn into the celebration of tomorrow.”