Tremblay on fire for RDC Queens
Queens 3 Kodiaks 1
It wasn’t a real shock when RDC Queens soccer head coach Dave Colley moved Stephanie Tremblay up front this season.
After all the 22-year-old St. Paul native played forward in her rookie season in 2008 under head coach Jerry Gerling before moving back to defence last year.
“I feel more comfortable this time around than I did in my first year,” said Tremblay, who scored twice Sunday as the Queens dumped the Lethbridge College Kodiaks 3-1 in Alberta Colleges Women’s Soccer League action at RDC.
“That first year I was a rookie and not that experienced.”
This year she’s one of the premier strikers in the ACAC’s South Division, leading the division with eight goals in five games.
“That’s more than I had that first year already,” she said.
Tremblay scored seven times in 10 games in her rookie season, not bad considering she felt she wasn’t as strong as she needed to be.
“I was pushed off the ball a lot, but last year moving back to defence I needed to be a lot stronger as I was the one pushing others off the ball,” she said. “This year I feel a lot stronger and I don’t lose a lot of 50-50 battles for the ball.”
Katelyn LaGrange scored the other RDC marker, notching her fourth of the season.
Tremblay enjoys playing alongside LaGrange as they worked well together two years ago.
“We seem to have that chemistry, which is so important, but really it doesn’t matter who Dave puts up there we’ve seemed to click most of the time,” said the 22-year-old Tremblay, who is in education and will be with the team at least one more year.
The win gave the Queens a 4-1 record and came less than 24 hours after they dropped a 2-0 decision to Medicine Hat.
“That was a difficult loss, but the way we responded was a step in the right direction,” said Tremblay. “And really that loss was a good reality check for us, especially with the big game coming up Wednesday.”
RDC visits Mount Royal University Wednesday.
Colley was also pleased with his team’s effort after Saturday’s loss.
“Even in the first half when it was nil-nil we played OK,” he said. “We hit a crossbar and a post and their keeper made four saves, so it wasn’t bad.”
Tremblay gave the Queens a 1-0 lead in the second half before Stephanie Penny evened the score for the Kodiaks.
“We relaxed after the first goal and misplayed a high ball and it was in the back of the net,” said Colley. “But we responded right away, which showed the mental toughness I wanted to see. We came back with a couple of pretty goals with good ball movement.”
Caitlyn McDougall picked up the win in goal.
Kings 3 Kodiaks 1
The Kings turned in a solid second half to remain undefeated with a 3-0-2 record as they downed the Kodiaks 3-1.
All three goals came in the second half.
“We still didn’t play well in the first half,” said Kings head coach Steve Fullarton.
“But we had a little chat at the half and the second half we picked it up. At the end of the day it came down to a desire to win and we showed that.”
The Kings trailed 1-0 in the first half on a goal by Cody Ferguson and were playing shorthanded after John Crabtree received a red card.
“Losing John seemed to give us a lift,” said Fullarton. “The guys dug down deep and it helped us at the end of the day.”
Joe Ziebart led the Kings in the second half with a pair of goals with Patrick Sweiger adding a single marker.
Brad Hughes, who has allowed only two goals in five starts, played well in goal.
drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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