By: Kajan Thiruthanikasalam
NORTH YORK, ONT.- Heading into Wednesday night's game against the Seneca Sting, the Centennial Colts women's soccer team were looking to put forward a better effort after a disappointing 5-0 loss on the road to the Durham Lords on Oct. 4.
Seneca (8-0-1) would snuff out any hope of that with five goals in a span of 21 minutes, as they defeated the Colts, 8-0, at Seneca Fields. It was Centennial's (0-8-1) worst loss of the season in terms of goal margin.
"They were too fast for us so when we pushed up a bit, we were caught in behind," Diarmuid O'Connor, Colts Head Coach said. "When you play the best team (in the East) and you're flat, you get killed in the first few minutes. We got a whipping tonight."
Forward Ellie Hayes and midfielder Sona Makulova both had a night to remember for Seneca, as the two players each tallied three goals and an assist. It was Makulova's second hat trick of the season while for Hayes, it was the first of her career.
Midfielders Alessia Da Silva and Michela Panzica also scored for the Sting. The field was tilted in Seneca's favour for the majority of the game, and it showed in the major stat categories, as they outpaced Centennial in shots (38-5), shots on goal (24-2), and corner kicks (5-2).
Zoe Rath needed to make just two stops for her second clean sheet of the season. Sabrina Rizzo was quite busy in goal, making 16 saves for Centennial.
The Sting got it started in the fifth minute after Makulova caught the Colts defense flat footed with a lob pass in which Hayes made no mistake on, converting with her left foot to the bottom left corner.
Seneca then added another tally to their lead in the 10th minute when Makulova controlled possession of the ball after a scramble in the box and promptly buried the right footed strike past Rizzo.
Another lob pass then caught the Colts defense off track, this time set up from defender Kristen Bettencourt, as Hayes was the beneficiary once again, firing a left footed strike off Rizzo's hands and into the back of the net in the 14th minute.
The avalanche continued as Makulova then completed her hat trick with two more goals in the 17th and 27th minutes, with both shots finding the bottom right corner, to wrap up the scoring for the first half.
To put things into perspective, Centennial did not generate a shot on goal until the 36th minute, in which Jessica Friend's shot on the rush was stopped by Rath.
In the second half, Centennial played a more conservative style of defense by playing an extra sweeper on the back end to limit the Sting's attack.
"We dropped back in the second half and even though they scored a few times, I thought we played a better second half," O'Connor said.
It didn't stop Seneca, however, from continuing their goal onslaught as Hayes scored her third of the night in the 55th minute off of a thru pass from defender Chantel Cifuentes into the bottom left corner.
Panzica then earned a few oohs and aahs 10 minutes after that when her right footed strike from 30 yards out went past the outstretched arms of Rizzo and into the top right corner before Da Silva wrapped up the night with a strike into the top left corner in the 90th minute.
After consecutive tough games against the top two teams in the OCAA East, the ladies look to bounce back against the Loyalist Lancers, who are also winless, in hopes of ending a nine-game winless drought.
"Sometimes, when you get a whipping like we did tonight, you either sulk and get beaten the next game or your pride can be hurt and you can fight hard," O'Connor said. "It'll show against Loyalist how we do. We hope and need to rebound quickly."
TOP 3 PERFORMERS OF THE GAME
Centennial
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Faith Anderson (D)
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Jessica Friend (MF)
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Clara Alvez Garrido (MF)
Seneca
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Ellie Hayes (F): 3 goals, 1 assist
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Sona Makulova (D/MF): 3 goals, 1 assist
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Victoria Harvey (MF/F)
CATCH OUR NEXT GAME
Centennial wraps up the road portion of the season on Sunday Oct. 14 when they head to Belleville to play the Loyalist Lancers at 1:00pm.