MONTREAL – Team captain
Marie-Pier Gougeon of Laval, Que., snapped a tie in the 69th minute of play as the No.10 ranked Université du Québec à Montréal rallied for a 2-1 road victory record over McGill in women's soccer, extending their win streak to six, Friday, at Percival Molson Stadium.
It gave the Citadins (6-0) their first-ever single-season season sweep over McGill, including a 2-0 win at Stade Saputo on Sept. 6. The result was also McGill's first home-field loss to UQAM in four years, since a 2-1 result in 2015 as they dropped to 16-2-5 lifetime against the Citadins at Molson Stadium.
"One of our main objectives today was to do better than our last game against them -- where we were a little intimidated by them -- and we responded by coming out strong, scored an early goal and things looked good at that point," said McGill head coach
Jose-Luis Valdes. "But they pressed us in the second half and we were a little shaky after that. We weren't able to find our rhythm."
McGill drew first blood five minutes after the opening whistle, with a top-corner strike from co-captain
Ariane Ducharme. It was the third marker of the season for Ducharme, an architecture junior from Notre Dame des Prairies, Que.
McGill held on for another 47 minutes before everything changed when UQAM sniper
Julia Liguori scored off a free-kick rebound in the 52nd minute.
"I think that we lost our focus after that goal and were worrying about losing the game, rather than resuming control and establishing our style," added Valdes.
A sustained high press from the visitors eventually wilted the home side, setting the stage for Gougeon's game-winner in minute 69. Her only other goal this season was also against the Martlets.
McGill goalkeeper
Annabelle Matysiak, a sophomore from Vancouver, B.C., made five saves in a losing cause, including an acrobat one to stop Liguori from netting a second.
UQAM's
Léa Palacio, a 5-foot-7 sophomore from Ahuntsic, Que., made four saves on five shots to preserve her team's perfect record.
McGill (4-4-0) heads to the Eastern Townships on Sunday, Sept. 29 to battle Bishop's (2-5-2) at Coulter Field. UQAM (8-0-0) will look to continue their unbeaten streak when they host UQTR (1-4-2) on Sept. 30.
2019 RSEQ WOMEN'S UNIVERSITY SOCCER STANDINGS
