The Ravens women’s soccer team season came to end with a 1-0 defeat to the University of Toronto (U of T) Varsity Blues on Oct. 24 in the Ontario University Athletics playoffs quarter-finals.
The third-seeded Ravens couldn’t capitalize on two penalty shots and 16 shot attempts against the sixth-seeded Varsity Blues. Meanwhile, U of T captain and leading scorer Chelsea Cheung headed home the game-winner midway through the first half.
“Opportunity lost, I think, is the story,” Ravens head coach Dominic Oliveri said. “I think on the day, we were the much better team but at this level, you have to take your chances. We didn’t do that.”
Shortly after Cheung’s goal, Ravens midfielder Ghalia Hammada missed a penalty wide. Forwards Melissa Gilligan, Tori McFarlane, and Cheyenne Bent also missed shots just over the bar or wide. In the second half, Gilligan had her penalty kick stopped by a diving U of T goalkeeper Vanna Staggolis.
“We gave up a goal, but they fought the whole 90 minutes to try and get the equalizer so you can’t fault them in any way,” Oliveri said. “It’s one of those days—sometimes you look as a coach, and it just didn’t look like it was going to go our way when you miss all the opportunities you do. Unfortunate because they deserved a lot better than this today.”
“That’s just unfortunate and on another day, both those players would get it in,” Ravens midfielder Shalene Denovan said about the penalties.
The Ravens hadn’t lost since a Sept. 8 game against U of T, having gone scoreless in three matches against the Varsity Blues.
“Obviously offence has been a huge problem all year. We’ve had a lot of clean sheets but we haven’t been able to score,” Ravens full back Sabrina Hammada said. “Moving into next year that’s going to have be our focus if we want to improve.”
Despite the defeat, Oliveri and the players reflected on the turnaround since the start of the season. The Ravens brought in Oliveri this January along with 14 first-year players in the summer after missing the playoffs last season.
Denovan called it “a big growing season.”
“We started here in mid-August in training camp and I think if anybody would have picked us to finish third in the [OUA East], [people] probably would have called them crazy,” Oliveri said. He pointed out that four players on the field played in their first playoff game.
Oliveri also added the team is trying to build a culture and environment which will have a chance to continue to do so this offseason, with only three players graduating.
“I’m a big believer [in that] you got to learn from things: learn from losses, learn as a program,” he said. The coach also credited the players for this season’s success.
“These kids are great kids,” he said. “As much as we’ve had a great season, it’s not on us as a coaching staff. That’s on the players. They’ve put in the work that we’ve asked them to do every week in, week out, day in, day out.”
Hammada was also hopeful for the future after a “good but also really difficult” year of transition with new players.
“The team was really inexperienced together but we got used to each other after a while,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of positives moving forward. It’s just unfortunate that it had to end this way tonight.”
— With files by Tim Austen.
Photo by Tim Austen
