Sherbrooke 6, Concordia 3: Stingers Women’s Soccer Falter in Last Regular Season Game

Tough Second Half Hurts Stingers As They End Season on a Loss

SportsJohn Ngala — Published October 22, 2018

The last time these two teams met on Sept. 9, Sherbrooke’s offence lit up the Stingers, as they conceded eight goals to one. Head coach Greg Sutton let it be known that round two was marked on their calendar.

“This game was a revenge game for us, they kind of embarrassed us the first game,” he said.

This Stingers kicked off the game determined to end their season on a positive note. Their play left no doubt of that, as they dominated the first ten minutes of the game.

They created multiple chances, but Sherbrooke did not let up and they were able to weather the early storm. Momentum shifted their way in the 12th minute, when forward Florence Duval struck from 20 yards out to beat Concordia’s spiralling goalkeeper.

Trailing, Concordia found themselves in a familiar position after that first goal but it appeared to play to their advantage as they rallied back, scoring two unanswered goals.

The Stingers made good use of an unforced turnover by Sherbrooke in the midfield area, when freshman Kathleen Hilario sprung off the break and netted her second goal of the season.

Just a couple moments later, it was Claudia Asselin—the team’s leading scorer—scoring off a well hit corner from teammate Chama Sedki.

Sherbrooke battled right back, though. Capping off an action packed, entertaining, back and forth first half, the Vert et Or evened the game up at two in injury time. It was Florence Duval once again, who blasted another perfectly timed volley into the back of the net.

Deadlocked at two, the Stingers’ problems occured at the start of the second half.

As Sherbrooke took the lead five minutes into the half, the Stingers were unable to stop the bleeding. Sutton knew that their opponents’ last goal was a crucial factor.

“Games can come in swings of momentum pretty quick,” he said. “They got that late goal in the first half which gave them a boost. And then going into second half they got early goals, which was tough to climb.”

Soccer is a team sport, and the Vert et Or showed that they were the superior team in the second half. At 3-2, Concordia committed a foul just outside of their 18th yard box. Sherbrooke defender Myriam Guay, confident, placed her boot over the ball to take the free kick.

It was taken with precision, force and accuracy leaving Concordia’s goalie no chance at all.

After Sherbrooke managed to score their sixth and final goal of the afternoon, Stingers’ midfielder Chama Sedki made it clear that her performance would not be overlooked and that going forward things need to be different.

“Overall we need more fitness, we lost focus in the second half, it happens often,” said Sedki. “With our new coaching staff, things are gonna be better so we’re working on that.”

With 16 minutes left to play, Sedki—team leader in assists—scored on a free kick that curled in the bottom left corner of the opposing teams net. Downplaying her achievement, Sedki claimed she had a bit of help.

“It was kind of a lucky goal. It was really bouncy but it’s fine, I’ll take it,” she said.

The Stingers finish the regular season with a 4-10 record overall, which is not where the program would like to be but head coach Sutton knows his team outperformed this season and came to play every night.

“We gave ourselves a chance to really push for the playoffs but we couldn’t get over that hump. This team, they play hard and I commend them for their effort and the work rate that they gave us all year. I’m proud of the girls this year, they did exactly what we asked them to do and that’s important,” he said.

Sutton closes out his first year as master coach with the women’s team out of playoff contention, but he’s confident his group will bring the same intensity they did all year come January, on route to a new year and a new season.