Capers edge visiting SeaHawks
Program honours graduating student-athletes By Corey LeBlanc
SYDNEY – The Cape Breton University (CBU) Capers (8-1-0) won its sixth consecutive match – 1-0 over the visiting Memorial University SeaHawks (5-3-1) – in Atlantic University Sport (AUS) women's soccer action Friday evening on the turf at Ness Timmons Field.
In a highly contested and tightly played first half, first-year striker Lauren Rowe used her speed to create a corner kick chance for the hometown Capers. On the opportunity, Makenna Bowser (Bible Hill, NS) kept her kick on the deck, with what looked like a pass to freshman striker Leah Disipio (Ottawa, ON) who, rather than shoot, hurdled the ball and let it reach midfielder Grace Hannaford (Enfield, NS), whose left-footed strike in the 11th minute eluded Memorial goalkeeper Shannon Galway (St. John's, NL) to give CBU a 1-0 edge.
Moments later, on another electrifying run, Lauren Rowe got around her defender and in close against Galway, who made a sensational stop on a hard shot from the Caper freshman.
In the 25th minute, Claire Langille (Windsor Junction, NS) collected the SeaHawks' first scoring chance, but CBU's freshman goalkeeper Ellie Lancaster (Fall River, NS) made a diving stop that kept the visitors off the scoreboard.
A few moments later, the Capers had back-to-back corner kicks, but Galway and her defense kept the SeaHawks within striking distance.
At the end of a long run by Langille, she split a pair of CBU defenders before lacing another strike that Lancaster soared to deflect wide with her left hand.
Lauren Rowe answered offensively for the Capers, but Galway turned aside another blast from the dynamic forward.
Near the end of the first half, Langille broke in – once again – but Lancaster slid out to thwart the scoring attempt.
The Capers led 1-0 heading to the locker room.
The defenses tightened in the second half, with fewer scoring chances coming for either side in an intense playoff-like atmosphere.
Memorial's best opportunity to knot the contest came in the 70th minute, when Langille caused a turnover and made a great run down the wing, but Lancaster darted off her line and dove to corral her cross and snuff out any scoring chance.
In the 78th minute, Ally Rowe (Kitchener, ON) had an opportunity, but she rolled a shot from a sharp angle through the lip of the crease behind Galway.
A few minutes later, on a corner kick from Bowser, CBU's Olivia Albright sailed a header just over the cross bar.
The second half wound down with the SeaHawks unable to threaten Lancaster for the equalizer.
The Capers outshot the SeaHawks 18-8.
Lancaster made seven saves for the victory, while Galway turned aside six shots in the loss.
Hannaford collected the Chartwells player of the match award for the Capers and Zoe Rowe named player of the game for MUN.
Prior to the action on the pitch, in the last home match of the AUS regular season, CBU Athletics and Caper women's soccer honoured the student-athletes who are graduating from the program on senior day, including Ally Rowe (Kitchener, ON), Rebecca Lambke (Antigonish, NS), Ally Wilton (Bedford, NS), Amy-Anne Ndiaye (Ile-Bizard, QC), Emily Cirone (Pickering, ON) and Senate Letsie (Maseru, Lesotho).
CBU will wrap up the weekend with a visit to Sackville, NB, to face the Mount Allison Mounties on Sunday, Oct. 15, for matches at 1 p.m. ADT (women) and 3:15 p.m. ADT (men). These contests were scheduled for earlier in the regular season, but they were postponed due to weather.
The Capers will return to New Brunswick for the final weekend of the conference campaign, making stops in Fredericton on Friday, Oct. 20, to face the UNB Reds (5 p.m. ADT), and Saturday, Oct. 21, versus the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues (2 p.m. ADT).
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