MONTREAL – Poppy Honeybone of Seattle, Wash., was named McGill player of the game after scoring the insurance goal and assisting on another as the Martlets coasted to a 3-0 shutout over the visiting UQAM Citadins in women's university soccer, Sunday.
 
The result snapped a remarkable six-year, nine-game winless streak (0-5-4) against UQAM since McGill's last victory in the head-to-head series, a 2-0 home-field shutout on Oct. 21, 2018.

In a matchup of undefeated teams before several hundred fans at Percival Molson Stadium, the Martlets improved to 2-0 atop the RSEQ conference standings, while UQAM dropped to 1-1. The game produced four yellow cards, including three to the visitors. McGill had a lopsided 17-1 margin in attempted shots, including a 10-1 tally on target.

"UQAM was missing a few injured players, so they started the game by pressing us high, which left us quite a bit of space behind their defensive line," said McGill head coach Jose-Luis Valdes. "So we just started sending balls in that direction and took advantage to create some good scoring chances. That's something that we don't do very often but we noticed that they had a lot of numbers pressing around our goal and we decided to (transition) forward faster than usual."
 
For the second consecutive outing, Chloe Renaud, a third-year midfielder opened the scoring with what proved to be the game-winner. The psychology junior from St. Hubert, Que., took a pass from Vanessa Kumar and hammered home her own rebound for the winning tally in the 17th minute of play.
 
That's when Honeybone took control. The 19-year-old biochemistry sophomore converted a nifty left-side corner pass from Alexandra Hughes-Goyette to give the Martlets a two-goal cushion in the 36th minute. The 5-foot-10 attacking midfielder later set up a spectacular second-half goal by Elisabeth Pronovost to ice the contest with 39 minutes remaining. Pronovost received a sideline pass from Honeybone and fired a right-footed rocket from 25-yards out into the top-right-hand corner. It appeared to ricochet off the cross-bar, hit an interior supporting bar and bounced out so fast that there was some confusion on the field as to whether the goal was a good one.

"Honeybone had a great game," Valdes stated. "She is so consistent with securing possession on loose balls and helping control the play from our end to the attacking zone. She was calm and poised on her goal and was certainly one of the best players on the field tonight."
 
Senior goalkeeper Sophie Guilmette of Ahuntsic, Que., needed to make only one save to post her second shutout in as many games. Citadins netminder Ann-Sophie Guay was named as the UQAM player of the game. She was credited with seven saves – including a penalty kick awarded to Honeybone in the 71st minute – in a losing cause.
 
Next on tap, McGill (2-0-0) will travel to Sherbrooke (0-2-0) on Sept. 6, while UQAM (1-1-0) will host the Montreal Carabins (1-1-0) on Sept. 8.

MARTLET MURMURS: Sophomore defenders Alexandra Boily St-Pierre of St. Hyacinthe, Que., and Sophia Cockett from Toronto, both registered their first official "caps" in outdoor play... Wearing the captain's armband for the second straight season is Mara Bouchard, a senior midfielder from Granby, Que.
 
SCORING SUMMARY

RSEQ STATS & STANDINGS

SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
McGill University - Athletics & Recreation
CELL: 514-983-7012
TWITTER: @EarlZukerman
E-MAIL: earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca