The Morinville Ladies are back where they belong in the St. Albert Women’s Soccer League.
Wednesday’s convincing 5-2 victory over Mavericks 09 at Grosvenor field not only put Morinville on top of the division one standings at 16-0-1, it also secured a provincial berth at the tier IV championship next weekend in Calgary.
“The win means a lot. We haven’t been to provincials for quite a while,” said Morinville striker Suzanne Gaetz, 23, who sniped three goals against the 2010 pennant winners. “It was definitely the game of the year for us. There was a lot of tension for sure. We were really nervous to play this game.”
Morinville’s last trip to provincials was in 2009 and the club’s best showing was bronze in 2005.
Last year the Mavericks finished fourth in their first provincial appearance.
“We definitely consider the Mavericks to be the hardest team to play in the league,” said Gaetz of the 15-1-1 Mavericks, who posted a 17-1 mark the previous year.
Both teams were tied in points going into the big game. The Mavericks had scored six more goals and given up one less than Morinville.
“All season we’ve been kind of battling with them back and forth so we knew this was going to be a tough game,” said midfielder Heather Smith, who scored once and assisted on Mel Johanessen’s goal to narrow the gap to 4-2 in the second half. “It really was a big game. Shane [Moore, the Mavericks’ head coach] had sent some e-mails around saying they would be really hungry for it and we had to be hungrier than them.”
In late May the teams settled for a hard-fought 2-2 draw.
“This game we had more confidence as a team,” said Gaetz. “That tie made us realize that we can compete with them. They did beat us last year so we kind of had that in the back of our minds too. We wanted to come back and show them what we’ve got and we did tonight.”
The Golden Boot division scoring champion kicked in the first goal and veteran Amy Suggitt quickly made it 2-0.
“For us to get that lead on them really got us going as a team,” Gaetz said. “All we did was just throw some balls at the net. We shot and they went in. That was the main thing. Sometimes we have a tendency to take our time and make maybe too many passes and not shoot enough.”
Her first goal caught keeper Tara Gaspe off guard.
“I think she maybe expected it to be a harder shot and it kind of fooled her a little bit. It kind of rolled and hit a couple of bumps and went in,” Gaetz said.
The Mavericks never recovered from their rocky start.
“In the first 10 minutes they probably had three breakaways. We were kind of sitting back on our heels. We were playing their game and they capitalized and got two goals right away,” Smith said.
Gaetz and Suggitt struck again in the second half before Smith headed a perfectly placed corner kick by Lindsey Hornung past keeper Dani Lafond into the corner of the net.
“I wasn’t being covered so I was just hoping she would see me,” Smith said.
After the goal by Johanessen, Gaetz needed only a few seconds to complete her hat-trick.
“That was more of just capitalizing on some mistakes on their part,” Gaetz said. “They had a lot of chances to capitalize on our mistakes too but tonight they just kind of went over the net or just missed. They got a post too so we got lucky a couple of times for sure with them. You’ve got to be good to be lucky, right?”
The goal put Gaetz at 31 to lead all division one and two players.
“We have a lot of good playmakers on our team. They’re able to see the passes and see the plays to set me up for those goals. A lot of credit goes to them. Sometimes I’m in the right place at the right time but it’s a team effort for sure,” she said.
The Mavericks displayed better form as the game progressed, especially for a good chunk of the second half.
“When they scored those first two goals in the first half we kind of sat back and we didn’t know quite what to do. We weren’t talking as a team and I think that’s what wins games,” said Smith, 34, who split time this year between the Mavericks and their division-two farm team, the first-place Mavericks 95 (12-1-1).
“They tended to beat us to the ball in the first half and then we kind of rose to the challenge in the second half and we were able to capitalize,” she said. “We didn’t seem to have a great first touch in the first half, but then we start getting first to the ball and the goals started coming.”
League play wraps up Sunday. The Mavericks line up against last-place St. Albert FC (2-13) at Grosvenor and Morinville battles the Storm (8-5-4) at Forest Park field. Kickoff times are 4:30 p.m.
Last month Morinville beat up a depleted Storm line-up 10-0.
“They’re always a challenging team. With them not having enough players that game it was definitely a factor so if they have their players it will be a tight game,” said Gaetz.
