It was a cold and miserable afternoon at Masich Place Stadium and the UNBC women's soccer squad didn't quite enjoy the day either.
The lady Timberwolves were hosting the Mount Royal University Cougars and coming into today’s (Sept. 22) contest, MRU had yet to win a match in the 2019-20 season (0-5-0) and hadn't registered a goal against opposing teams.
One may think that UNBC had it in the bag before kickoff, but it was proven that numbers don't matter, eventually ending in a 0-0 draw.
Within the first 15 minutes of the match, Jenna Wild, Paige Payne, and Ashley Volk all registered shots against MRU keeper Katrina Greenley, who was able to keep the game scoreless.
“I think we were a bit on our heels in that first ten or fifteen minutes,” said Greenley in a post-game release. “You have to make those saves when your team is a little nervous. It helped the team calm down, and from there, we started to keep possession more.”
In the 23rd minute, she made one of those saves when Jenna Wild hammered a shot from 10 yards out, but Greenley made a great save to tip the shot over the crossbar.
The Cougars would have chances of their own, with shots at UNBC keeper Madi Doyle from Hannah Park, Janai Martens, and Kaitlyn Clarke.
Heading into the half, the score remained nothing to nothing with MRU leading the shots category 7-6.
“We were pretty strong in shutting them down, which was good, but we didn’t get the quality of chances we have gotten in past games,” said UNBC's Mara McCleary in the same release. “The first half we were pretty strong, but we were happy about how we stayed calm.”
In the second half of the game, MRU controlled much of the possession and play, with the Timberwolves playing in their end for the majority.
Athena Fourlas and Talisa Tefledzuk in the late stages had great opportunities to score the squad's first goal of the year while UNBC's best chance came from all-star forward Paige Payne.
In the end, the game was scoreless with MRU earning their first point of the year with the draw.
Their record improved to 0-5-1 while the Timberwolves record now sits at 3-1-2.
POSTGAME: Six saves and a clean sheet for @MRU_wsoccer keeper @katgk after @MRUCougars' 0-0 draw with the @UNBCWSoccer pic.twitter.com/zVYStPI39W
— UNBC Athletics (@UNBCATHLETICS) September 22, 2019
UNBC is tied with Victoria in the standings with the exact same record of 3-1-2 and 11 points.
“Props to them. The entire second half, we were under pressure,” commented UNBC’s Kiana Swift after the match. “They made it very difficult for us to play out of that. We tried going over top, and we tried going around. They messed with how we play.”
The ladies now hit the road to the Okanagan next weekend for matches against the UBC-Okanagan Heat on Saturday (Sept. 28) and the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack on Sunday (Sept. 29)
Saturday's game will kick off at 1 p.m. while Sunday is set for a start time of noon.
Good battle between @UNBCWSoccer & @MRU_wsoccer ended in a 0-0 draw, and the @MrMikesPG Player of the Game goes to Mara McCleary, who was a beast on the backline all game long. Congrats, Mara!! pic.twitter.com/stMCoai5Pp
— UNBC Athletics (@UNBCATHLETICS) September 22, 2019
