By: Teru Ikeda and Kajan Thiruthanikasalam
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- The 2018-19 season got off to a promising start for the Centennial Colts women's soccer team as they generated two shots on goal within the first four minutes of the game.
"Instead of being scared, we snuck in right away and we had two opportunities that they (Seneca) gave up," Diarmuid O'Connor, Centennial Head Coach said. "If we put one in, I think that would've changed the game a lot."
But the Colts could not capitalize. After that sequence, it was all Seneca Sting from there on out.
Centennial (0-1) felt the sting from Seneca (1-0) as they were defeated, 4-0, in their season opener at the Progress Turf Field. It was the first game of a Colts soccer doubleheader as fans quickly filled up the bleachers to see the women in action.
Chantel Cifuentes, Emma Genova, Vanessa Gullo, and Sona Makulova each scored for the Sting while goalkeeper Anjelica Cardarelli made three saves for her first clean sheet of the season.
The field was tilted in Seneca's favour for almost the entirety of the match as they controlled possession and dominated the shot category, outpacing Centennial in shots (27-5) and shots on goal (26-3).
"When you're playing a team like Seneca, you've got to convert those opportunities," O'Connor lamented. "And we didn't so we paid the price for it at the end."
Due to the work of Colts goalkeeper Sabrina Rizzo, who stopped 22 out of 26 shots on goal, the deficit was at two for most of the game before two late goals from Seneca put it away for good.
"I thought she was excellent and her confidence was fantastic," O'Connor said of Rizzo's work in goal. "Last year, she was the backup and I think being the number one goalie has helped her a lot."
Midfielder Jessica Friend, a transfer athlete from Western University and the Colts' top recruit, made her Centennial debut and O'Connor says she played well.
"Playing against a really good team, I thought she held her own," O'Connor said. "She had a great chance at goal and missed but her work ethic was tremendous and that kept us close to the very end."
Seneca peppered Rizzo with 12 shots in the first half alone but only mustered one goal in the half. That came from Cifuentes in the 21st minute off of a scramble in the penalty box.
Friend had a chance to knot up the score in the 44th minute but her low shot attempt went just left of the post.
Despite a spectacular sequence in the 49th minute when Rizzo stopped three consecutive Sting attempts on net, Makulova extended Seneca's lead to two in the 58th minute after receiving a through pass and firing it top shelf. Gullo (86") and Genova (87") then scored less than a minute apart to wrap up the goal scoring.
O'Connor says that although the season is still young, hanging in there with a team like Seneca is a major step forward for the Colts.
"I think the biggest takeaway is that we can compete with big teams," O'Connor said.
TOP 3 PERFORMERS OF THE GAME
Centennial Colts
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Paige Solda (D)
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Fran Robinson (D)
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Jessica Friend (M)
Seneca Sting
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Mariana Hernandez (M)
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Victoria Harvey (M/F)
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Sona Makulova (D/M): 1 goal
CATCH OUR NEXT GAME
The Colts head up north for a weekend back-to-back against the Algonquin Thunder this Friday at 6:00 pm and the next day at 1:00 pm against the St. Lawrence Vikings.