Queens win soccer bronze
The RDC Queens may have received the break they needed against the Medicine Hat Rattlers before the Alberta Colleges Women’s Soccer League bronze medal match even started Sunday afternoon at Grant MacEwan.
“We got a huge break when we won the toss and took the wind in the first half,” said Queens head coach David Colley, following their 3-0 win. “We didn’t want to have them coming at us in the first half and to have the snow in our eyes.”
As a result the Queens jumped into a 2-0 first half lead as Claire Wallace scored 10 minutes in on a breakaway when she shovelled the ball in under the keeper. Ten minutes later Wallace chipped a ball over to Terra Salmon, who drilled in a shot to make it 2-0.
“The second half they got the wind and put a lot of pressure on us,” explained Colley. “They must have had nine corner kicks, but the girls did a great job defensively, not giving them anything. Eventually we got a chance to move up field and Amber (Regnier) gave nice pass to Claire, who beat a defender one-on-one and chipped it over the keeper.”
The win was the first time the Queens defeated the Rattlers this season after two ties.
“They’re a tough, well-coached team and we did an excellent job under tough conditions,” said Colley, who couldn’t have been happier with the final result to the season.
The Queens lost 4-0 in the semifinal to the Concordia University College of Alberta Thunder while the Rattlers dropped a 3-1 decision to NAIT. NAIT went on to down Concordia 3-1 in the final.
“Saturday was a bit disappointing, although they have a very good team and were rated No. 1 in Canada heading into the tournament,” said Colley. “They scored twice on corner kicks and twice on free kicks and usually we’re good against set pieces, but they’re also good at what they do.”
Rustlers 3 Kings 0
After two solid performances, the Kings didn’t have much left and it showed as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Lakeland College Rustlers in the ACAC Men’s Soccer bronze medal game at RDC Sunday afternoon.
“We didn’t show up today,” said Kings head coach Steve Fullarton, whose squad beat Grande Prairie 6-0 in the quarter-finals and lost 7-4 to the NAIT Ooks in the semifinal Saturday.
“I thought they adapted to the conditions better than we did. It was a lottery out there and they deserved to win. I have no complaints with the score.”
The Kings did go into the match a bit shorthanded and were missing their leading scorer, Nolan Hamilton.
“He was one of several guys not 100 per cent and we tried to use him in the second half, but he wasn’t fit,” said Fullarton, who saw Hamilton score twice and Andrew Jevne and Chase Grenier once each against NAIT.
The Kings were up 2-0 early against the Ooks, who went on to lose 2-1 in overtime to SAIT in the final.
“After jumping ahead they came at us strong and we gave them some sloppy goals,” said Fullarton. “They led 3-2 at the half and took a 4-2 lead in the second half, which seemed to be the back breaker. We just made a few little errors that hurt.”
Still the Kings had a great season, considering they won only once last year.
“I’m happy with the players, it was a big turnaround and at one stage we were undefeated for nine games. It would have been nice to get third place, but sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t. Today wasn’t our day.”
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