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Rams draw with RMC

By Sarah Cunningham-Scharf

The Ryerson Rams women’s soccer team dominated the second half on Saturday against the Royal Military College Paladins but could not score the winning goal, ending the game in a 1-1 draw at Monarch Park Stadium.

The Paladins’ striker Lisa Udegbunam scored RMC’s single goal in the first seven minutes of play, heading the ball past Rams’ keeper Rebecca Petrocelli on a free ball thrown in from the touch line.

The score sat at 1-0 going into the second half, when the Rams appeared to switch the momentum in their favour, keeping the ball in the Paladins’ end much more than before.

“From the start, we came out a little nervous, a little too excited, but after that, we got settled in,” Petrocelli. “We definitely created more chances up top.  The ball was in their half, and we definitely had a lot of the possessions.”

More aggressive offense resulted in a rush from midfielder Hanna Park.  Ten minutes into the second half, she headed the ball into the Paladins’ crossbar, but capitalized on the rebound, heading it past RMC keeper Alexandria Hogg.

Park said the goal felt “really good”, as she’d been playing defense for a long time and hadn’t scored in a while.

The Rams outshot the Paladins 13-1 in the second half, but only put one goal on the board.

In the final few minutes of the game, there were many excellent scoring opportunities for the Rams.  The greatest chance occurred when striker Karena Evans was bowled over in the Paladins’ box for a penalty shot.  Midfielder Nicole Paiva took the shot, which was caught by keeper Hogg.

Even though the Rams could not come up with the winner, head coach Kevin Souter happy with the his team’s performance.

“It was a great effort, a tremendous effort [but] unfortunately not to win the game, there were numerous chances there,” said Souter.  “Today was their best performance [of the season], hands down.”

Ryerson could have benefitted from the three points gained with a win to separate themselves from RMC and Nippissing in the standings but still hold onto the final playoff spot.

The Rams next game is on Sunday afternoon against the Queen’s Gaels at Monarch Park Stadium.

For a full photo gallery, check out the Eyeopener on Flickr.

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