Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
CALGARY – Few in #GriffNation will ever forget the goal Brittany Costa scored four years ago off a short corner kick pass from Suekiana Choucair to deliver a huge win for MacEwan over cross-town rival Alberta in extra time.
Darned if Salma Kamel didn't repeat the feat on Sunday, taking a pass from Taylor Sousa out of the corner and curling in a bad angle laser strike to the top corner in the 70th minute.
The significance was equally as huge as Kamel's tally stood up as the winner in MacEwan's 2-1 victory over the home-standing Mount Royal University Cougars.
"Eerily reminiscent," said Griffins head coach Dean Cordeiro. "Almost exactly to a T. It was a banger! They're two of the nicest goals I've seen. This one was just perfectly placed."
With the win, the Griffins improved to 10-0-2 in regular season matches against MRU since they entered Canada West in 2014. More significantly, with their sixth-straight victory, they moved to 7-1-0 and are two points clear of idle Calgary (6-1-1) for top spot in the Central Division.
"It feels good for sure," said Cordeiro. "Like I said yesterday, it's one game at a time, but to be top of the table two-thirds of the way into the season, we like where we've positioned ourselves."
With the score tied 1-1 and conditions deteriorating quickly amid hail and snow on top of gusting winds, the Griffins went to a familiar play to net the winner.
"The visibility was poor," said Cordeiro. "But we don't make excuses, we find solutions.
"Credit a short little corner we designed and Salma Kamel scored a world-class goal. She took a short pass from Taylor on the corner and just curled a ball in the upper right 90 right in the V – just a quality finish. That was the difference in the game.
"We found a way to get six points this weekend, which was our objective."
Kamel, who was named player of the game for the Griffins, scored her sixth goal in the last four games the Griffins have played on MRU's field and continued adding to her mystique in the month of October.
"She loves playing here and it shows with the success she's had," said Cordeiro. "Salma's always been a player who's stepped up huge when the game means more, especially as we get into October. We joke that she's Mrs. October because we see her game get to new heights and reach another level."
Enjoying a huge wind advantage in the first half, MRU opened the scoring when Ashtyn Haycock headed in a 30th minute corner kick.
"It kind of woke us up a bit," said Cordeiro. "After that, we fought really hard to close out the half. We got the equalizer back on a great individual effort by Grace Mwasalla. She split the D, beat another player and served a quality ball to Nikki Brodeur, who ended up tapping it in for the finish."
The 44th minute goal set the table for MacEwan to win it in the second half.
Breanna Truscott made four saves to pick up her second win of the season.
MacEwan next hosts Lethbridge on Oct. 16-17 (both 12 p.m. Clarke Stadium, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
