Saturday Afternoon Road Warriors

Satuday afternoon the road teams took the victory in women's soccer.

VIU Mariners 3 – Langara Falcons 0

For the second time this season the Mariners record a clean sheet over the Falcons in a battle of the top two teams in the Conference.  Keeper Kaiden Thorpe only needed to make one save in the victory and now has an incredible four clean sheets in her four games played.

The Mariners opened the scoring on a scramble in front of the net in the 24^th minute.  Just as the Falcons thought the ball crossed the backline and out of bounds, the official said “play on” creating traffic in front of the net with several players trying to get a foot on it. Mary Huggill took advantage and kicked it past the keeper for her third of the season, which would also turn out to be the game winner.

Just before halftime the Mariners struck again with tremendous pressure on the Falcons backline.  They were able to force a turnover as Jada Kamerman sent a beautiful pass into the middle of the box to a wide-open Emma Thornton who immediately picked the top left corner for her team leading fourth of the season.

In the 66^th minute Kamerman put the game out of reach as the beneficiary of an incredible play by Jade Dillabough.  She received the pass on the right side before dribbling through four Falcons defenders, like they were standing still, then sent a gorgeous pass across the box to Kamerman who easily tapped the one timer into the open net for her third of the campaign.   

Sunday the Mariners (6-1) will visit the Douglas Royals (2-4-1) at 12:00pm | WATCH HERE

The Falcons (4-2-1) will hit the road to North Vancouver to meet the Capilano Blues (1-6) at 12:00pm | WATCH HERE

Douglas Royals 2 – Capilano Blues 1

In the 34^th minute the hometown Blues opened the scoring.  Kai Belbin took a corner kick and lifted the ball into the middle of the box where it ricocheted off a Royals defender, then somehow bounced off Kianna Sardari, off the Royals keeper and then crossed the goal line for her third of the season.

The lead didn’t last long.  Not a minute later Isabelle Dobbin led a rush down the left side and fed a gorgeous pass across the field into the middle of the box to a sprinting Anna Klaver-Valdez.  Despite going top speed, she was able to redirect the pass into the net on a perfectly executed rush to tie the game in the 35^th minute.  The score remained tied at the break.

There was only one goal in the second half, and it turned out to be the game winner. In the 67^th minute the same duo struck again for the visiting Royals.  This time it was Klaver-Valdez returning the favour with a beautiful pass from the right side into the box, threading it just past the keeper to a waiting Dobbin on the far side who shot it into the open net for her Conference leading sixth goal.

After that Royals keeper Vanessa Chung and the backline shutdown the pressing Blues to earn their second win of the season.  Chung finished with seven saves, six of them in the second half.

Sunday afternoon the Royals (2-4-1) welcome the top seeded Mariners (6-1) at 12:00pm | WATCH HERE

The Blues (1-6) on the other hand host the Langara Falcons (4-2-1) at 12:00pm | WATCH HERE