SHERBROOKE - The visiting McGill Martlets battled hard but came up short losing 2-1 on penalty-kicks, to Sherbrooke in the RSEQ women's soccer semifinal, Friday. When regulation time ended at 1-1 and two overtime periods solved nothing, the Vert & Or outlasted McGill 5-3 in the shootout session.

And so ends what was such a promising season, one that started out with an 11-0-2 record over the first 13 games overall before a slew of injuries and bad breaks took their toll, resulting in a 3-4-2 mark down the stretch.

McGill led 1-0 on a goal in the 34th minute by Hannah Rivkin, an all-conference midfielder from St. John's Nfld., but Marie-Eve Jacques tied it up for Sherbrooke in the 44th minute. Jacques, however, should have arguably been ejected minutes earlier when she hammered McGill 'keeper Victoria Muccilli of Mississauga, Ont., in a goal-mouth collision but only received a yellow card for her transgression. Muccilli left the game with a suspected concussion at  halftime and was replaced by rookie 'keeper Aidan Mahoney, a 5-foot-11 freshman from Ottawa.

The teams battled through a scoreless second half and two fruitless 15-minute overtime sessions. The Martlets won the coin-toss and opted to shoot last.

Sherbrooke's first three shooters -- Laurence Dostie-Paré, Andréanne Durivage and Elyse Turcotte -- each tallied but McGill was equal to the task, with goals from Julia Bahen, Kelsey Wilson and Stephanie Avery.

The Vert & Or took a 4-3 edge when Camille Vandenberghe hit pay-dirt but Rivkin was robbed by 'keeper Elena Waldispuehl. Then Chloé Belhumeur-Limoges put the game out of reach, firing a shot to the right of an outstretched Mahoney.

"When you need penalty-kicks to decide a game, it is always a lottery and we had only one miss in the PK session and honestly the goalkeeper made a great save on that shot (by Rivkin)," said McGill head coach Marc Mounicot, who has racked up a 222-71-55 record in 14 years behind the bench.

"The two teams were very close in quality and it was a pleasure to coach that game tonight. Sherbrooke was dangerous all night with the speed of Jacques but our back four was solid. It went back and forth with chances on both sides but losing Muccilli was bad omen. Mahoney had a great game coming in cold for the second half and the overtime but Muccilli has a reputation for coming up big on penalties."

The Martlets also had to make do with the services of all-conference defender Bahar Sansar of Longueuil, Que., who suffered a season-ending concussion in practice last week. Also missing was injured defender Beth Armstrong.

"All players who played tonight left everything they have on the field and they played some quality soccer," said Mounicot. "The team can take pride in how hard they played. We had a good season overall. Our youngsters stepped up at the end, replacing some key injured players. Some of them learned a lot and others proved that they have the talent. The future looks bright for many of them."

Only two Martlets are expected to graduate - midfielder Julia Bahen, a senior in international development studies who hails from Vancouver, B.C., and Beth Armstrong, a finance senior from London, Ont.

"Both of them have represented this program with pride and success," said Mounicot. "It will be difficult to see them go."

(NOTE: MORE STATS TO BE POSTED ON SATURDAY EVENING)


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
McGill Sports Info office
514-398-7012