The U of M women’s soccer team lost 2-4 to the Alberta Pandas on Sunday, Sept. 22 at the Princess Auto Stadium. The Bisons soccer team made efforts to carry the day, but that was not enough amidst defensive blunders.
Shannon Lee and Nyema Prentice-Whyte scored a goal each for the Bisons while Makenna Van der Veen and Wanda Czebreszuk found the back of the net for the Alberta team.
The Bisons made an attempt for a goal, a minute into the proceedings, but the ball went into the waiting arms of Alberta goalkeeper Autumn Wynn.
The Bisons pushed through in the fifth minute through a spectacular free kick converted by Shannon Lee. She lofted the ball with power over the opponent’s defenders which landed at the wide side of the net, as goalkeeper Autumn Wynn was unable to stop the ball.
Alberta fetched the equalizer in the 20th minute following a free kick superbly executed by Makenna Van der Veen.
Four minutes later, the Bisons came close to adding another goal, but goalkeeper Autumn Wynn was alert to prevent the ball from crossing the goal line.
Between the 25th to 30th minute was end-to-end action from both sides mixed with attack, but the two goalkeepers handled the situations with caution. Makenna Van der Veen had a brace after scoring the second goal for Alberta in the 33rd minute. She had the ball in the Bisons’ half, navigated through the defense and calmly rounded off goalkeeper Holly Dyker to slot the ball into the net for a 2-1 score.
The Bisons pushed for a leveler but that was made impossible by Alberta’s defense, ending the first half 2-1 for the visiting team.
The story did not change for the Bisons in the second half as they conceded the third goal in the 55th minute through Wanda Czebreszuk’s strike.
Two minutes later, Makenna Van der Veen had her personal hat trick and the fourth goal for Alberta after sending a low drive shot which could not be saved by Bisons goalkeeper Holly Dyker.
Nyema Prentice-Whyte reduced the Bisons’ deficit after connecting to a pass in the 68th minute.
Jessica Tsai, captain for the Bisons team, came close to scoring for Bisons deep into stoppage time, but the connecting ball moved away from the chance of a goal.
The game wrapped up 4-2 against the Bisons soccer team.
Tsai said that “obviously, we’re not happy about the results. We’re university-level athletes. We’re not here just to have fun. We want to win games. We’re definitely not happy, but like always, there’s going to be some positives we can take away from today, and we want to focus on those and think about what we can do better to improve for next weekend.”
“First of all, we will work a lot on the defensive side of the game,” said head coach Vanessa Martinez. “Just being more compact. Have more communication. Clear the balls far and wide […] and keeping the intensity. You know, keeping the intensity for the whole duration of the game and the focus. That’s something we’re going to keep emphasizing.”
The Bisons soccer team has lost five of the last six games. Their next game will be on Saturday, Sept. 28 against the Calgary Dinos.
