In their Alberta Collegiate Athletic Association home opener it was a tale of two drastically different halves for RDC Queens.
In the first, the Queens took the play to the Olds College Broncos and lead 2-0, with plenty of opportunity to be up even more at the break.
Those missed chances proved costly for the Queens as some tentative play in the second allowed the Broncos to score twice and earn a 2-2 tie.
Queens defender and fifth year captain Krysten Strand said there just wasn’t enough push from her team to put the game away when the had the lead and that was the difference.
“First half we got pretty confident and then we just sat back and thought we had the game. It’s a 2-0 game, anyone can come back from that,” Strand said.
“You always have to be pushing and pushing, every goal matters. Up front they just have to finish. We had so many opportunities to be up 5-0 but we gave up and sat back.”
Corrinn Graham open the scoring for RDC in just the second minute of the game, before Reesa Garez extended the lead in the 26th.
Rachel Brodie scored on a penalty kick for Olds towards the end of the second half to cut the deficit and then tied the Broncos tied the game with time winding down.
Queens first-year head coach Esad Elkaz said mentally, his young team wasn’t able to summon the killer instinct to close out the game and will hopefully learn from Saturday’s loss.
“It was a one-sided game in the first half. That was unbelievable. The game is played 90 minutes and you have to fight for it,” he said.
“They are technically and physically ready to play. We have a lot of first year and they’re trying to find the chemistry and figure each other out.”
Adama Soumah was the player of the game for the Queens. They’ll be back on the pitch Sunday afternoon when they take on the SAIT Trojans.