Soccer In Toronto 07.16.09

By Rocket Robin Soccer In Toronto

W-League Result
Thursday July 16th, 2009

Final Score
Toronto Lady Lynx 2, Hamilton Avalanche 1

Venue
The Hershey Centre, Mississauga

Kickoff
7:30 pm

Highlights
10 min … Avalanche Heather MacDougall GOAL
MacDougall 10 yard side swing around blast from right is into left side of net beyond goalie Justine Bernier. HLA Kelly Heaton earned the assist for heading the ball downward after ball crossed in from the left side.

33 min … Lady Lynx Stefania Morra GOAL
Lady Lynx Courtney Clarke takes a long throw-in from the right that bounces into box and Morra blasts 12 yarder into left corner of net halfway up bar.

62 min … Lady Lynx Nathalie Urbas GOAL
Urbas heads ball over goalie Amy Holt who’d headed ball although she was actually inside the box and could have caught it. Urbas’s header was from 15 yards and HLA defender tries scissor kick but can’t keep ball out of back of net.

Notes
Attendance was about 100 people on this warm sunny evening. The bright sun in the North West only affected the Lady Lynx running into it in the first half. By the second half the sun had set. Finally some bugs made their first appearance this year at the 80 minute mark from the swamp land along the edges of the park.

Patricia Peebles was the referee and only gave out one card the whole game.

I hadn’t seen Nathalie Urbas before but she answered after the game that she was six foot tall. She was signing autographs left handed. A tall forward like this raises all kinds of opportunities for set pieces. I think the goalie didn’t know where she was when she headed the ball instead of catching it but from my angle she was inside the box.

Lady Lynx looked much better in the second half and really cut down on the Lady Avalanche chances. I only counted two decent tries in the last half of the game.

Kelly Heaton looked dangerous at forward for Hamilton in the first half but was eventually subbed out at 61 minutes and by that time she looked tired.

Lady Lynx record climbs to 5 wins, 4 losses, and 4 ties to assure at least a .500 record going into their season final on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 pm against first year team (but playoff participant) Quebec City Amiral at Hershey Centre.

I was invited to vote for the MVP as chosen by the media. My vote went to defender Clare Rustad over fellow defender Allysha Chapman as there was not a standout goal scorer this year. The defense kept every game close. Clare Rustad was chosen W-League player of the week earlier this season.

Lady Lynx head coach Danny Stewart said he’d be coaching that game and the Lynx game against Michigan Bucks on Sunday as Lynx head coach Duncan Wilde is traveling with the Academy teams to Indiana this weekend.