Both teams claimed victory in the Playoff Cup final in the St. Albert Women's Soccer League.
Mavericks 09 scored all the goals they needed in the opening 21 minutes to beat the Kickers 2-1 Sunday at Forest Park field.
“We had a better first half than the second half, but our second half was still good,” said forward Lindsey Hornung of the Mavericks.
The Kickers broke free offensively when Kristen Babin lifted the ball over top of goalkeeper Natalie Smith with 16 minutes remaining.
“After we scored it felt like all of a sudden the pace picked up for us,” said Babin, as the Kickers withstood oodles of scoring opportunities after halftime before cutting the deficit in half. “We really held them out. We won the second half.”
The final pitted the first-place Mavericks (11-1, 103 GF/7 GA) against the second-place Kickers (8-3, 65 GF/19 GA) in the seven-team league.
The semifinal scores were 6-0 Mavericks against Gini's (4-7) and 2-1 Kickers against Mavericks 95 (3-6-2).
“We like playing the Kickers. They're good competition,” Hornung said.
The Kickers attacked the Mavericks with a deeper bench than normal while switching up their defensive structure on the field.
“A lot of people all of a sudden showed up to the last game which is exciting to have that many subs. That made a huge difference,” Babin said. “We also changed our formation because the Mavericks beat us every single time. We went five across the middle, which we typically don't.
“They move off the ball so well so we really had to be on top of them,” Babin added. “Our defence just held it for us. We were matching them marking.”
The Kickers also benefitted mightily from Rayanne Gagnon making a rare start in net.
“We've had no fulltime goalie the whole season so she is a sub goalie for us, she played on the team out in the field, and today she did amazing,” Babin said.
The first half was basically played in front of the Kickers' net as Gagnon was tested early and often.
On a corner kick in the ninth minute, Jen Bruinsma finished off a bouncing ball in tight of Gagnon to open the scoring.
Twelve minutes later, Hornung notched the second goal with a hefty boot to the ball that Gagnon made a gallant diving attempt to her right to stop going in on the short side.
The Mavericks also launched a couple of shots that sailed high or wide of the net before the first half ended on a big save by Gagnon on Meagan Sinke.
The Mavericks continued to pour on the pressure in the second half with Sinke and Natalie Miller leading the charge. Allyson Fong was also denied a goal by Gagnon.
Miller was the league's Golden Boot top scorer in the regular season with 20 goals, five more than Courtney Blair and Lisa Robichaud of the Kickers and Bruinsma.
“We moved the ball really well through our backs and we do that intentionally. We're not always supposed to kick it up to the front, we want to use everyone on the team and make sure we're spreading the field,” Hornung said of the team's ability to generate quality chances.
After a lengthy defensive stand, the Kickers capitalized on a through ball down the wing that drew the goalkeeper out to clear it away, but it ended up in front of Babin and the centre midfielder directed it towards the net as Smith scrambled back into position. However, she was unable to prevent the ball from tucking in under the crossbar.
“I made a pass out to Lisa and she went for it and there was a bit of commotion there and it popped back out and (Smith) was trapped and boom!” Babin said. “That was probably the most exciting goal of the season.”
Despite the loss, the Kickers viewed the season as a positive.
“We have a really great core, that's probably what does it for us. There is a committed group that seems to come out to everything and are just there for each other,” said Babin, 40.
The Mavericks continued their SAWSL dominance even though the 3-2 loss to the Devils (4-8) June 18 was the first setback in the SAWSL regular season and playoffs since the 2013 division one final, 3-2 to SA Force.
Prior to that loss, the Mavericks fell 5-2 to the Morinville Ladies in 2011 for the division one pennant and Tier IV provincial berth.
“It was another great outdoor season. We love playing in St. Albert. A lot of us are from here so we play close to home and it's nice to be at the same field all the time at the same time and Sunday nights are good for us,” Hornung said.
Tier III provincials
However, there was the thorny issue of the fourth-place ribbon the Mavericks received after losing the bronze final at the Alberta Soccer Association Tier III tournament during the September long weekend in Calgary as the defending champions and winners of five provincial medals (two gold, one silver and two bronze) in seven years.
The only medal the Mavericks ever returned home from Calgary with was bronze in 2017.
“It's the Calgary curse,” Hornung said. “We had some injuries, but I wouldn't say that's the reason. I would say we're just unlucky in Calgary. Maybe we need to be sleeping in our own beds to help us play better.”
In group two at the six-team provincials, the Mavericks posted a 2-0 win against Red Hill FC, 9-3-2 as the first-place division 3D team in the Edmonton District Soccer Association. Goals were scored in the second half by Sinke (shot went through the goalkeeper's hands) and Annerleke Wolmarans (volleyed home a corner kick).
The Mavericks failed to find the back of the net for the rest of the tournament with losses of 5-0 to BB United of Calgary in the round robin and 1-0 to Apothic FC of Calgary for the bronze.
Smith was exceptional in limiting the damage to only five goals against BB United, while a two-minute stretch of sketchy soccer by the Mavericks resulted in Apothic FC scoring on a good finish.
The outcome marked the first non-medal showing at provincials since 2015 in Tier III in Calgary.
“It just got away from us (at provincials). The one team that we lost to (BB United), they were playing a real kick and run game. They had a really fast runner at the front and they were just moving it to her all the time and we're used to playing soccer and not running, it was unfortunate the score was that high, but we still had fun. That's why we go to provincials. We want to have fun and play good soccer,” said Hornung, 39.
