Image Credit: Contributed
August 16, 2015 - 2:57 PM
KAMLOOPS - Tom McManus got his first chance to see what his 2015-16 Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women’s soccer team will look like this season.
The WolfPack opened their brief exhibition season off with a scoreless tie against the Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves of the Alberta College Athletic Conference. The match was played at Hillside Stadium.
“We had very good possession in the first half,” McManus said. “But we couldn’t drive it into the final third. We hit two crossbars and a post but a little more quality would have put the ball in the back on the net.”
McManus felt his squad played very well defensively. “Sara Seebach and Jodi Hutton (both Kamloops, BC) were outstanding. Brianna Powrie (Kamloops, BC) was dominant in the center midfield. We got the ball out wide to Taylor Miller and Sara Fertile (both Kamloops, BC) were excellent at taking on the defenders.”
The coach went onto say: “In the second half, we played mostly our younger players and it became more of an even match. Natalie Verdiel played well as a central defender. Paige Martin (Kamloops, BC) used her pace to get to a number of balls but couldn’t find the net. She hit the cross bar on one of her shots. Nikki Manwaring (Kamloops, BC) stayed wide on the right but couldn’t get the service that she deserves.”
McManus felt that overall it was a good effort aside from the finishing. That is something he hopes to stress with his team as they gear up for their final two preseason matches: August 28 and 29 th in Prince George against the UBC Tinmberwolves and the MacEwan Griffins.”
The WolfPack played all three of their keepers in this match: Taylor Shantz (Kamloops, BC) started the first 30 minutes before giving way to Shalayna Isakson (Kamloops, BC) and finally Deanna Brady (New Westminster, BC).
Thompson Rivers played without five players: veterans (Katie Sparrow (Kamloops, BC), Christine Fergin (Waterloo, ON) and Miyoko McKeown (Port Moody, BC) were injured.
Danielle Fauteux (Kamloops, BC) and Karen Perry (Calgary, AB) were out of town.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015