Guelph Union hits late, really late, for tie with Waterloo
GUELPH – AC Lang connected on a free kick on what was essentially the last play of the game as Guelph Union battled BVB IA Waterloo to a 2-2 standoff in League1 Ontario Women’s Premier soccer play Sunday at Alumni Stadium.
The hosts were awarded the free kick at the 20-yard line when Abby Morrell was tripped trying to get free for a shot on net.
Guelph Union 2 BVB IA Waterloo 2
“To be honest, I don’t usually take the free kicks from that close but I got the opportunity and I spent a few seconds visualizing and thankfully it dropped the right way this time,” Lang said.
And did it go as she visualized?
“It was close,” Lang said. “I just wanted it to dip down a little bit and I thought I was able to do that pretty well.”
The goal came almost four minutes into stoppage time and all Waterloo could do after it was kick the ball from the centre dot and the whistle blew to end the match.
Union scored early and late in the match while Waterloo had a pair of goals a little over five minutes apart late in the first half, their second goal coming in first-half stoppage time.
“Certainly we were unhappy with that first half,” Lang said. “The latter half of that first half was poor, we shouldn’t have conceded twice so we really had to work harder in the second half. Still wasn’t perfect, we need to work on some things for sure.”
Leaving it so late to tie the game is obviously not the best thing to do.
“You don’t want to do that, but the thing is our spirit was strong through the group and you could just feel it,” Union coach Onkar Dhillon said. “You could feel the momentum. You could feel the energy from the bench getting projected onto the players out there and that’s what you want your team to do. Results or no results early in the season, you want your team to continue to glue and that’s what the staff noticed the most — the amount of glue that was coming from the energy that was coming from the bench to the players on the field. They could feel the surge and they got the result.”
Union also got a bit of a lift from Morrell when she was sent into the game for the final 18 minutes. Energy she stored up on the bench came into play for two or three attacks down the left side and she was making the attempt to pull Union even when she was tripped.
“I think the elements again had something to say about the game today and sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way,” Dhillon said. “We had chances. We were in a couple of times in the first half and we just weren’t able to capitalize and they had a couple of chances and they were. I think a draw’s a fair result on the day.”
There was a steady wind throughout the game and it was at Union’s backs in the first half and Waterloo’s backs in the second half. As it turned out, two goals were scored into the wind and two were scored against the wind.
Justine Rodrigues scored the first goal for the locals seven minutes into the contest.
Barbara Vanessa Siakam tied it for Waterloo in the 40th minute and Kayla Kraemer put the visitors ahead just before the half-time whistle.
Libby Brenneman picked up the tie in the Guelph net while Waterloo had Kaitlyn Mazuryk in goal.
The result leaves Union at 2-1-1 and Waterloo at 3-2-1.
This is Union’s first year in the Women’s Premier division. They won all six games they played last year in their inaugural season, but it was in L1O’s women’s university division. That division was a one-year thing, created due to COVID restrictions forcing a late start to the season. Teams whose majority of players are university students couldn’t play in the Women’s Premier last year as the end of its season went well into the school year, so the university division was formed just so they could get some games in.
There’s no university division this year and the Women’s Premier is 20 teams in total, all in a single division. Union will play every other team in the division once this season.
“It’s a high level,” Lang said. “It’s a learning curve for everyone. It’s a higher level than any of us have really played before and we’re all coming from different places so there’s a lot of gelling that we still have to do. But given that, I think we’re bonding well and we’re kind of improving game by game.
“There’s a lot more games and we face the higher-end teams this time. Last time it was kind of Tier 1 and Tier 2 and we were in Tier 2. Now we have to face those high-end teams and that’s really going to test us.”
Union is also waiting on the arrival of four more players who are still away at university. Adaira Nakano (Southern Mississippi) and Mari Young (Arkansas-Little Rock) are expected first with Riley Mann (Central Michigan) and Isabella Villaflor (Dartmouth) following later.
Union is to play four more games before the end of May as they’re to take on Burlington SC (0-5-0) at Burlington’s City View Park Wednesday at 9 p.m. before playing three consecutive home games at Alumni Stadium. They’re to host Electric City FC (3-1-0) of Peterborough Sunday at 4 p.m., Alliance United FC (0-2-2) of Scarborough May 26 at 9 p.m. and Woodbridge Strikers (2-1-2) May 29 at 3 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph Union hits late, really late, for tie with Waterloo
GUELPH – AC Lang connected on a free kick on what was essentially the last play of the game as Guelph Union battled BVB IA Waterloo to a 2-2 standoff in League1 Ontario Women’s Premier soccer play Sunday at Alumni Stadium.
The hosts were awarded the free kick at the 20-yard line when Abby Morrell was tripped trying to get free for a shot on net.
Guelph Union 2
BVB IA Waterloo 2
“To be honest, I don’t usually take the free kicks from that close but I got the opportunity and I spent a few seconds visualizing and thankfully it dropped the right way this time,” Lang said.
And did it go as she visualized?
“It was close,” Lang said. “I just wanted it to dip down a little bit and I thought I was able to do that pretty well.”
The goal came almost four minutes into stoppage time and all Waterloo could do after it was kick the ball from the centre dot and the whistle blew to end the match.
Union scored early and late in the match while Waterloo had a pair of goals a little over five minutes apart late in the first half, their second goal coming in first-half stoppage time.
“Certainly we were unhappy with that first half,” Lang said. “The latter half of that first half was poor, we shouldn’t have conceded twice so we really had to work harder in the second half. Still wasn’t perfect, we need to work on some things for sure.”
Leaving it so late to tie the game is obviously not the best thing to do.
“You don’t want to do that, but the thing is our spirit was strong through the group and you could just feel it,” Union coach Onkar Dhillon said. “You could feel the momentum. You could feel the energy from the bench getting projected onto the players out there and that’s what you want your team to do. Results or no results early in the season, you want your team to continue to glue and that’s what the staff noticed the most — the amount of glue that was coming from the energy that was coming from the bench to the players on the field. They could feel the surge and they got the result.”
Union also got a bit of a lift from Morrell when she was sent into the game for the final 18 minutes. Energy she stored up on the bench came into play for two or three attacks down the left side and she was making the attempt to pull Union even when she was tripped.
“I think the elements again had something to say about the game today and sometimes the ball just doesn’t bounce your way,” Dhillon said. “We had chances. We were in a couple of times in the first half and we just weren’t able to capitalize and they had a couple of chances and they were. I think a draw’s a fair result on the day.”
There was a steady wind throughout the game and it was at Union’s backs in the first half and Waterloo’s backs in the second half. As it turned out, two goals were scored into the wind and two were scored against the wind.
Justine Rodrigues scored the first goal for the locals seven minutes into the contest.
Barbara Vanessa Siakam tied it for Waterloo in the 40th minute and Kayla Kraemer put the visitors ahead just before the half-time whistle.
Libby Brenneman picked up the tie in the Guelph net while Waterloo had Kaitlyn Mazuryk in goal.
The result leaves Union at 2-1-1 and Waterloo at 3-2-1.
This is Union’s first year in the Women’s Premier division. They won all six games they played last year in their inaugural season, but it was in L1O’s women’s university division. That division was a one-year thing, created due to COVID restrictions forcing a late start to the season. Teams whose majority of players are university students couldn’t play in the Women’s Premier last year as the end of its season went well into the school year, so the university division was formed just so they could get some games in.
There’s no university division this year and the Women’s Premier is 20 teams in total, all in a single division. Union will play every other team in the division once this season.
“It’s a high level,” Lang said. “It’s a learning curve for everyone. It’s a higher level than any of us have really played before and we’re all coming from different places so there’s a lot of gelling that we still have to do. But given that, I think we’re bonding well and we’re kind of improving game by game.
“There’s a lot more games and we face the higher-end teams this time. Last time it was kind of Tier 1 and Tier 2 and we were in Tier 2. Now we have to face those high-end teams and that’s really going to test us.”
Union is also waiting on the arrival of four more players who are still away at university. Adaira Nakano (Southern Mississippi) and Mari Young (Arkansas-Little Rock) are expected first with Riley Mann (Central Michigan) and Isabella Villaflor (Dartmouth) following later.
Union is to play four more games before the end of May as they’re to take on Burlington SC (0-5-0) at Burlington’s City View Park Wednesday at 9 p.m. before playing three consecutive home games at Alumni Stadium. They’re to host Electric City FC (3-1-0) of Peterborough Sunday at 4 p.m., Alliance United FC (0-2-2) of Scarborough May 26 at 9 p.m. and Woodbridge Strikers (2-1-2) May 29 at 3 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal