Selina Speranza stands just five-foot-two out of her soccer cleats but as far as the UNBC Timberwolves were concerned she was the Manitoba Bisons' big bad giant.
Speranza awoke the Bisons' slumbering offence late in the first half when her pressure tactics assisted in the opening goal, then scored the next three goals in a 5-0 win over the Timberwolves on a sunny Sunday afternoon at North Cariboo Fields.
"I wasn't really expecting that but I was working hard the whole game and our team was doing really well with the high pressuring and my goals were a result of that," said Speranza. "It was good to get a couple goals right before the half, that's what we really needed."
Speranza 's aggressive forechecking led to the opening goal, 42 minutes in. She chipped the ball in deep on UNBC goalie Lianna Toopitsin, who made the wrong decision trying to clear the ball up the middle of the field and it was blocked by Sara Schur, who got the angle on Toopitsin and tucked a shot into the empty net.
Two minutes later, just before halftime, Speranza caught UNBC defender Rhianne Ferdinandi flatfooted with no other UNBC player in the same vicinity and with a burst of speed cut into the open field to score on a high shot.
It didn't take long into the second half for Speranza to complete the hat trick. In the 53rd minute she stole the ball from Fiona Raymond and scored on a breakaway and in the 59th minute she collected her nicest goal of the day after Amanda Wong forced the turnover, firing off a high twisting shot from 20 metres out that sailed in just under the crossbar. Alyssa Daley completed the scoring in the 75th minute with a sharp-angle shot that deflected in off the far post.
While the lopsided score suggested the Bisons (1-1) totally dominated the T-wolves, it wasn't like that at all. The Timberwolves had the ball on their feet for much of the game, especially in the final 15 minutes when Madeline Doucette, Julia Babicz and Sydney Wilson all had great chances to break up Maddie Wilford's shutout. Wilford stopped all five shots she faced in the game. Toopitsin, a sophomore who had just 45 minutes of playing time in her rookie season, blocked three of the eight shots fired her way.
"I can't say it wasn't tough, they were definitely good at getting up there and kicking the ball in," said the 19-year-old Toopitsin. "I think we're really trying to implement the things we're told to do in practice. Instead of just trying to kick the ball up field we're trying to take control of it and play in a positive manner in a way where we get to keep possession."
UNBC (0-2) started the Canada West season Friday at home with a 4-0 loss to the Winnipeg Wesmen. Allowing nine goals in two games is not the kind of debut T-wolves head coach Neil Sedgwick envisioned for his team when he was hired in February, but he still saw plenty of encouraging signs.
"The things that we're doing are just fantastic and they'll pay huge dividends to this group," said Sedgwick. "They're playing with courage and they're doing some wonderful things and it's just going to take time and when it comes they'll be very good.
"Manitoba plays a very good pressuring game and they have some good athletes and some kids who can finish, one-on-one. We conceded nine goals in two games but for big portions we had the ball and we'll have to learn from it for sure."
The play of rookie defender Mara McCleary put a smile on Sedgwick's face. Still a month away from her 18th birthday, McCleary was a monster on the back line. The new arrival from Victoria moved the ball with authority, springing her teammates into open territory with long accurate passes and wasn't afraid to sacrifice her five-foot-nine body to impede the progress of the attacking Manitobans. Bison midfielder Chelsea Dubeil learned that the hard way in the first half when she tried to dribble the ball in on goal from close range just to the side of the post but was instead sent sprawling when McCleary's slide tackle hooked the ball cleanly out of harm's way.
"We didn't let the other team dictate how we played and even though they had a high press we still played our game and managed to play around them – we just adjusted," said McCleary, who played against CIS-caibre players this past summer on an under-18 side in Victoria.
"I've been able to play against Vikes players or post-university players in Victoria so it's not as much of a jump as it should have been."
UNBC travels this week to Langley to face Trinity Western on Saturday, then will be in Kamloops Sunday to play Thompson Rivers University.
• In the men's game Sunday afternoon in Kamloops, Ryan Glanville scored two goals and Mitchell Popadynetz added a single to lift the Thompson Rivers WolfPack to a 3-0 win over the UNBC Timberwolves.
Claye Harsany posted the shutout for TRU, called upon to make just three saves. Mitch MacFarlane blocked five shots in the UNBC nets.
The win improved the WolfPack's Canada West record to 2-4.
On Saturday, UNBC (1-5) won its first of the season, defeating TRU 3-2. Tofa Fakunle scored twice and Francesco Bartolilo also connected for UNBC. Glanville had both goals in that game for Thompson Rivers.
The UNBC men will be at home on Friday to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (7 p.m. start), followed by a match Sunday at 11 a.m. against the Winnipeg Wesmen.
