September 15th
Looking back on an unsuccessful week prior, the Cougars were
excited to compete against some more closer to home games this weekend starting
on September 15th. Coach Fusco had quite a lot of things on his
to-do-list for training sessions and had the Cougars working hard to prepare
for the matches against the University of Lethbridge and the University of
Calgary.
The Cougars started their day early on Saturday morning and
loaded the bus up at 8am to depart for the first game of the weekend against
UofL. Once arrived, the Cougars headed straight for the change rooms to get
ready mentally and physically for the match. Once again coach Fusco had some
inspirational words and a list of tactics to take into consideration for the
squad in hopes that they would break their unlucky streak and put some points
up on the board. Fusco asked the Cougars, “Who has the bigger heart to win this
game?”
As seen before, the Cougars came off the field at half time
holding the score at 0-0. Fusco made changes to the attacking line up and added
Donella Lockheart alongside Kelsey Kinzner, and Karlee Hodl to create some more
scoring opportunities. With a decent half of the match played, Fusco urged his
team to “earn it!”
The second half of the match commenced and it was apparent
that the UofL squad was hungry for a goal. Much like many of the goals scored
against the Cougars while in BC, the UofL squad managed to cross the ball to an
unmarked player and scored early on the Cougars in only the first minute and a
half of play.
The level of play hand seemingly deteriorated somewhat on
the Cougars part from that of the start of the match, but the Cougars were able
to nontheless keep the score within reason. The match ended on the 90th
minute 1-0 in favor of the UofL squad. With emotions of obvious frustration
from both Fusco and players, the Cougars headed home defeated once again in
silence.
September 16th
The Cougars entered the MRU varsity room Sunday morning with
still some unhappy faces apparent from the match just 24 hours earlier. The
Cougars got comfortable in their own surroundings and had a much needed team
discussion on their performance in all of the unsuccessful games played so far.
Fusco educated the squad with video footage on some coaching moments, and once
again tried to talk the team about player mentality. Perhaps this time, the
Cougars would prove these pre-match discussions and lessons to be beneficial.
The frustrated Cougars took to the home field of UofC looking
to channel their frustrations into their play to find success for both
themselves and the entire team. The level of play looked to be higher than any
other match that the Cougars had played so far, and the intensity was great. The
Cougars had more than 50% of the possession of the ball and things were looking
good. Once again the half time score was 0-0, but with a different game being
played than any other before the Cougars seemed optimistic about the second
half and their potential.
The second half continued to hold its pace of play on behalf
of both teams, but the UofC squad was first to score. The Cougars were not
going to accept defeat this time, and continued to show that they were
deserving of a win this game. And with good, hard effort comes reward; the
Cougars finally put themselves on the score board as Kelsey Kinzner beat out
the goalie with her fast feet and easily composed herself as she put the ball
in the back of the UofC net. The Cougars were ecstatic both on and off the
bench.
The end result was a 1-1 tie. Although the Cougars seemed to
have played a better game on the pitch, there were no unhappy faces this day,
as the Cougars had finally proved to themselves that they can compete and find
success at the CIS level. It was a much more enjoyable ride home this time
round.
**provided by Kara Noel.
