KINGSTON, Ont. - After playing to a scoreless draw with the No.1-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees on Friday, the No. 9-ranked Queen's Gaels cruised to a 6-0 win over the Trent Excalibur in their final game of the OUA regular season in women's soccer action at West Campus Field on a windy Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Gaels finish the regular season with an overall 11-2-3 record and clinch second place in the OUA East Division.
Going into their final game of the regular season against the Excalibur, all the Gaels needed was a point to clinch second place in the OUA East Division and bye into the OUA Quarter-finals.
Determined to secure the second seed, the Gaels came out strong in the first half, but couldn't a buy a goal, despite eight shots on net in the opening 43 minutes of action. The Gaels would finally get their break with two minutes left in the first half, as
Brittany Almeida (Elginburg, Ont.) finally put one in the back of the net on the cross from teammate
Riley Filion (Alexandria, Ont.). One minute later, the substitution for striker
Kayla Crnic (Milton, Ont.) paid off as Crnic was left alone in the box and she made no mistake putting it past the Trent goalkeeper, to put the Gaels up 2-0. The two back-to-back goals in the final two minutes of the first half gave the Gaels a comfortable lead going into the break.
But the Gaels did not settle there. Queen's would extend the lead, scoring three goals in the span of five minutes early in the second half. A string of good passes got the offence started for the Gaels, as Crnic put it through to Filion, Filion to Almeida, and Almeida who would tap it in for her second of the game in the 54th minute, 3-0. Three minutes later, Filion would get her own after collecting two assists earlier, as she fired a rolling rebound from outside the eighteen right passed the goalkeeper's head to make it 4-0 for Queen's. Two minutes later,
Jennifer Siu (London, Ont.) made it five goals for the Gaels, 5-0. Queen's would add one more secure goal in 71st minute, giving Almeida her hat trick and she led the Gaels to a 6-0 win over Trent.
The Gaels outshot Trent 23-5. Almeida, who led the Gaels with three goals, received game MVP nods for the home side. The hat trick gives the first year striker 10 goals on the year, good for sixth in scoring in the league.
Gaels goalkeepers
Sabrina Carew (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and
Rachel Burton (Toronto, Ont.) combined for five saves in the shutout win.
Trent goalkeepers Emily Webb and Karlie O'Grady eight and nine saves, respectively. Defender Emily Larkin received the MVP nod for the Excalibur.
The win over the Excalibur secures the Gaels second place over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (9-3-4) in the OUA East Division and gives Queen's a first-round bye to the OUA Quarter-final that they will host next Sunday, October 28 at West Campus Field.
Notes: With the six goals scored on Sunday, the Gaels win the scoring title for the 2012 regular season. Queen's scored 55 goals this season, more than any other team in CIS women's soccer.
