Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Behind first-half goals by veterans Raeghan McCarthy and Salma Kamel, the MacEwan Griffins won their preseason opener 2-0 over the visiting Trinity Western Spartans on Friday afternoon at Clareview Turf Field.
McCarthy scored in the 20th minute when she ripped a cracker from 35 yards out that deflected off a defender and in.
Then, in the 44th minute, McCarthy threaded a sublime through ball that sent Kamel in on a partial break off the left side and she made no mistake, slotting it in the corner.
"This is Game 1 from us for our preseason," noted head coach Dean Cordeiro. "We're two weeks in. It's really nice to see some of the stuff we're working on executed in the matches. It was Game 7 for Trinity. They're a hell of a program. We knew we were going to get their best, so we had to be sharp.
"I'm very impressed with our standard today."
Samantha Gouveia shuts down the Spartans attack in the second half on Friday (Jefferson Hagen photo).
That standard included the debut of several players as the Griffins got 18 players into the match.
"What a first impression from Anneke Odinga," said Cordeiro of the rookie fullback, who played 90 minutes. "For a first year to do what she did today was top class. Then Taylor Sousa came in at halftime after we spelled Meagan Lemoine. So we had two first years at fullback. What they were able to do was pretty impressive and then we had the work from many others across the board."
Rice University transfer Erin Van Dolder ran the midfield and took corner kicks, looking as poised as you would expect from someone with 587 minutes of Div. 1 experience.
"The debut from Erin Van Dolder today – what a player," said Cordeiro. "Abbey (Wright) and Sammy (Gouveia) at centre-back just kept everything in check and then we had Bianca (Castillo) with the clean sheet and near-perfect performance.
"This is what you want to see at this time of the year."
Bianca Castillo played well as the Griffins earned a clean sheet in their preseason opener on Friday (Jefferson Hagen photo).
Castillo had to make a few saves, including deflecting one over the bar in the first half and a diving stop off a corner kick in the second.
"It was the tale of two halves," noted Cordeiro, whose group had to weather a storm from the Spartans in the second half. "We had more of the play in the first half as well as the corner kicks. But when we went in at the half, I told the team we were going to get their best.
"Sure enough, they tested us. We bent a little bit, but we didn't break. We conceded some corners here and there. But the way we defended them was great to see."
The Griffins' next preseason action is in Calgary against the University of Saskatchewan on Sept. 27 (5 p.m.).
