LENNOXVILLE – Striker Liliane Lefebvre snapped a tie in the 81st minute of play and goalkeeper Sophie Guilmette made eight saves as visiting McGill edged Bishop's 2-1 in women's soccer at Coulter Field, Friday.

The Martlets, who dropped their season opener 2-1 to UQAM on Wednesday, bounced back nicely and improved their lifetime record against Bishop's to 57-0-3 since the Gaiters joined the league in 1992.

Both McGill markers came on set plays initiated by a corner kick from 17-year-old Hana Yazdani, a freshman midfielder from Coquitlam, B.C.

On the first one, in the 54th minute, Yazdani made a short relay to Chloe Renaud, who made a swift move past the defender on the outside, then lobbed an arcing pass to Thalia Krauth-Ibarz of Brossard, Que. The senior striker used her head to volley the ball past Gaiters 'keeper Anne-Marie Ulliac but landed awkwardly on the play and limped off the field. She did not return.

Bishop's evened the score in the 69th minute, with seven different players touching the ball, paced by a long pass-and-run down the right sideline by Shannon Phee, whose cross found Marie-Pierre Beaudoin in the box and she one-time the ball to Andrea Boily for the equalizer.

The Gaiters joy was short-lived as on the ensuing play, team captain Kalin O'Brien of Oakville, Ont., was promptly red-carded after being assessed her second yellow.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

About 11 minutes later, Yazdani worked a give-and-go with Renaud and fired a crossing shot which was tipped in by Lefebvre for the game-winning tally.

Guilmette, who was selected as McGill's player of the game by the Bishop's coaches, turned aside eight of nine shots on target to even her record at 1-1 in a McGill uniform. She made a game-saving stop in the 90th minute, thwarting a dangerous scoring attempt by Bishop's striker Michaela Marenchin. The 5-foot-6 goalkeeper from Montreal played the previous two years at Vanderbilt University after being recruited out of Vanier College.

"We had a hard time catching our rhythm in the first half," said McGill head coach Jose-Luis Valdes, whose team bus encountered heavy Friday traffic in Montreal and arrived late, causing the game to start about 20 minutes late. "Bishop's pressed us very well and we spent a lot of time in our end during the first half. Guilmette was very present and made sure that whatever shots came into the box, she handled cleanly and with efficiency. In the second half, she made a huge save when the game was tied 1-1 and we came back to take the lead moments later."

Aside from the aforementioned injury substitution, McGill made four more substitutions at halftime.

"We have a lot of depth this year and the subs gave us some much-needed fresh legs as we were playing our second game in three days, while the Gaiters were playing with an extra day of rest," noted Valdes. "It gave us a burst of energy in terms of ball movement and we were able to pressure them in their zone during the second half."

Ulliac, a native of Edmonton, was pegged with the loss between the pipes for BU. She saved five of seven shots as her record tumbled to 0-1-1.

The Gaiters took all four cards issued in the game, three of them yellow. They had only eight of the 22 fouls called by the officials. Bishop's (0-1-1), which battled Concordia to a scoreless draw in their season opener, will play their next game at Laval on Sept. 9.

McGill (1-1-0), will make the short jaunt around Mt. Royal, to confront the Montreal Carabins on Sept. 11 in a rare 8 p.m. start, at Terrain Vincent d'Indy.

MARTLET MURMURS: Midfielder Mara Bouchard wore the captain's armband in place of injured defender Olivia Mazzarello. Bouchard is a 21-year-old psychology sophomore from Granby, Que.

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Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca