The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks women’s soccer team started their season on high note on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Waterloo Warriors 3-1. Rookie Amanda Mithrush led the way for the Hawks, scoring a pair of goals in her first career start.
“Overall, I think we were clearly the dominant team today,” said Hawks’ head coach Barry MacLean. “I’m happy with the result, I’m happy with some of the performances from the team, but there are still a few things we need to work on.”
The Hawks controlled the play for the majority of the game, however they did suffer a few defensive lapses leading to UW chances, including the Warriors’ second-half goal. According to MacLean, this is the area where his team needs the most improvement.
“Defensively we definitely have some work to do,” he said. “We really need to improve the way we deal with high balls coming forward, I think that’s the biggest area we need to work on.”
The Warriors weren’t the only opponents the Hawks had to deal with on Sunday, as the long, unkempt grass on UW’s field, put a strain on the purple and gold’s attack.
“It’s ridiculous that we’re playing on a field like this,” said MacLean. “I think [the long grass] definitely affected us more than it affected them, because we’re a passing team.”
The Hawks were also hampered by an injury to 2009 All-Canadian midfielder Heather Malizia. Malizia went down with an ankle injury late in the first half and aside from playing briefly after half-time, sat out the rest of the game.
Following the game, MacLean downplayed the injury to his star player, saying it was nothing more than “a rolled ankle.”
The Hawks will look to remain undefeated next Saturday when they travel to Hamilton to take on the McMaster Marauders.