MONTREAL -- They say a tie is as uninviting as kissing your sister. But when the tie is against the sixth-ranked Montreal Carabins, the kiss is more than platonic. Goalkeeper
Sarah Dubois of Edmonton registered an eight-save shutout as McGill held the Carabins to a 0-0 draw in RSEQ women's soccer at Percival Molson Stadium on Friday.
The tie put an end to McGill's three-game losing streak to Montreal, dating back to another scoreless decision on Sept. 27, 2015.
"If you go with the ranking, sure it looks like the tie was as good as win," said Martlets head coach
Jose-Luis Valdes. "But defensively we played well and so did they. The result, I feel, is pretty fair. It could have gone for them or it could've gone for us with the way we played today."
All but two of the Carabins' dozen attempted shots were on frame, compared to just one of five for McGill.
"We had more of the ball possession but they managed to get closer to our goal more often and more directly," Valdes explained. "Defensively, I feel we were very solid so a lot of those shots were... not really threatening. There were two that were just placed under the bar where our 'keeper had to make real big saves."
It marked the first clean sheet of the regular season for the Martlets and for Dubois, a 5-foot-8 chemical engineering senior who was named Game MVP for McGill.
"She deserved the shutout," said Valdes. "She made the saves she needed to make. The two big saves she needed to make, she made them and that keeps us in the game."
Valdes also praised his centre backs, junior
Sarah-Maude Bouchard-Canuel of Sherbrooke, Que., and
Natasha Tcheki-Jamgotchian of Pierrefonds, Que., a first-year transfer from Syracuse of the NCAA.
"Sarah-Maude was clearly the best player on our team tonight," he offered. "She was clean, winning headers, winning all her defensive battles. With Montreal playing very direct, she had to be on the ball and the same goes for 'Tcheki'."
Two freshmen saw considerable playing time.
"
Ariane Ducharme started again after her good game last week," said Valdes. "She wasn't able to (dominate) as much because Montreal is a little stronger physically, so she'll have to get used to the physicality in the league.
Noemie Briollais came in during the second half and was able to show some speed. When you're in your first year, you just have to adjust how to deal with the physical contact that some teams like to impose."
Midfielder
Marie-Ève Bernard O'Brehan earned Game MVP honours for U de M, while Carabins goalkeeper
Claudia Dubé-Trempe turned away her only shot faced.
Montreal had a 12-5 edge in shots attempted, a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks and were assessed 11 fouls while committing nine.
McGill (1-1-1) travels to Quebec City on Sunday, Sept. 17 to take on defending U Sports champion Laval (2-0-0) at 3:30 p.m. The Carabins (1-0-2) host Concordia (0-0-2) that same afternoon.
LINK TO BOXSCORE
2017 RSEQ WOMEN'S SOCCER STANDINGS
(updated after games on Sept. 15)
