Lady-Hawks maintain playoff spot
Regular-season finishes next weekend; Memorial men in the cellar
The Memorial Sea-Hawks hold on to the fifth and final playoff spot despite picking up just one point in Atlantic University Sport (AUS) women’s soccer play during the weekend at King George V Park.
The Memorial Sea-Hawks and the Dalhousie Tigers battled to a scoreless tie on Sunday afternoon after MUN lost 3-1 Saturday.
Memorial coach Walt Mavin said it’s a good sign for the team to pick up at least one point after coming off a loss in a back-to-back game which they’ve done twice this season.
Sea-Hawks keeper Jaime Crocker, who was chosen the host team’s player of the game, made 12 saves for the shutout in only her second start of the season.
Memorial is in fifth place with a record of 5-3-3, two points more than sixth-place University of Prince Edward Island Panthers and four up on seventh-place UNB Varsity Reds. The top five teams will make the playoffs as the AUS championship host team, the ninth-place Mount Allison Mounties, get an automatic playoff berth.
The Sea-Hawks will finish their season next weekend in Nova Scotia when they take on first place Cape Breton Capers (7-0-4) in Sydney Saturday, followed by a game in Antigonish against the St. Francis X-Women (3-5-3).
Mavin said it’s been quite a season with very little to choose between the top five teams.
“We had a couple of defensive lapses Saturday. I thought we did a better job today (Sunday) of closing down the passing lanes an making it more difficult for the Tigers to push through.”
Mavin pointed out most of Dal’s shots were from the outside (25-30 yards) “and we can deal with those.”
However, he noted: “Jamie made an outstanding save from two yards out to keep a clean sheet for us.”
He said MUN had two or three great chances that could have been very easily converted into goals.
Fifth-year veteran Lauren Windsor played her last game at home as a Sea-Hawk Sunday. Mavin presented her with a framed photograph prior to the game.
Dalhousie improved to 7-2-2 and are tied with Acadia Axewomen for second place in the conference.
Tigers 3, Sea-Hawks 1 (Saturday)
Memorial opened the scoring when rookie Jessie Noseworthy scored her third goal of the season in the third minute of play.
Fourth-year defender Maria Oliver earned the player of the game honours for Memorial.
Men’s soccer
Dalhousie took a pair of 2-0 wins over Memorial in AUS men’s soccer play over the weekend at King George V Park.
Memorial keeper Michael Bartellas was the player of the game for the last-place Sea-Hawks, who fell to 1-91 on the season while Dalhousie improved to 6-3-2.
The Tigers scored both of their goals in the second half Saturday.
Sean Fardy was chosen the player of the game for Memorial.
The Sea-Hawks finish their season next weekend when they travel to Nova Scotia to play Cape Breton and St. Francis.