KINGSTON, Ont. (October 6, 2018) – The Queen's Gaels (7-2-2) drew with the Trent Excalibur (2-6-4) 1-1 at Richardson Stadium on Saturday afternoon in OUA women's soccer action.
GAME FLOW
After a tense early start to the match with few chances for either side, Trent got on the board first with a 14thminute goal from forward Emma Twohey, Twohey's shot glanced off the near post from a tight angle beating Queen's keeper
Anna Stephenson. Trent's advantage would stand as they took a 1-0 lead into the half-time break.
The Gaels opened the second half with a series of incisive attacking sequences but failed to convert those opportunities into shots on target, other than a few set-piece opportunities. The match became more and more physical as the second half went on, with Trent dropping more players deep and battening down the hatches defensively.
Queen's finally broke through in the 77th minute when forward
Jenny Wolever lost her defender and rounded the Trent goalkeeper before calmly slotting it home to level the match at 1-1, a deserved equalizer for a Gaels team that had dominated the second half up to that point.
A Gaels standout from the second-half was first-year midfielder Chole Korol-Filbey who controlled play well from her central position, making several key interceptions and distributing the ball efficiently.
Queen's continued to pour on the pressure right up until the fulltime whistle but failed to find a go-ahead-goal and were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at home, dropping an important two points in the OUA East standings.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
For Queen's the result today sees them lose valuable points in the standings. The Gaels remain entrenched in second place in the OUA East with 23 points but sit just two points ahead of Nipissing and three ahead of UOIT. The Tricolour trail first-place Ottawa by a five point margin.
BY THE NUMBERS
1 – Trent scored on their only shot on target in the match.
11 – Queen's tallied 11 shots (only five of which found the target).
FINAL SAY
Coach
Dave McDowell commented on the disappointing result: "All credit to Trent who I thought was very well organized, but to drop two points when the opponent only had one shot on target is difficult to grasp. We've got to be more clinical with our finishing."
He also commented on the development of the Gaels young players, including standout performer Chole Korol-Filbey: "All of our first-years have really improved, Chole's done a really good job for us and is coming into her own a bit, she's still working through some things but had a very good performance today".
UP NEXT
The Gaels take on the UOIT Ridgebacks tomorrow at 1 PM at Richardson Stadium, followed by a visit to the Laurentian Voyageurs on Saturday, October 13th in Sudbury.
