Joey Payeur
Jess Caul and her teammates showed up for a soccer game and wound up finding themselves as the targets in a shooting gallery.
The Fort Frances native had the only goal for the Providence University College Pilots (Otterburne, Man.), who hung on for a 1-1 tie against the Maranatha Baptist University Sabercats (Watertown, Wisc.) in their opening game in Pool B at the National Christian Colleges Athletic Association (NCCAA) Division II national women’s soccer championships in Kissimmee, Fla., yesterday.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow knowing that we could have won it, but ended with a tie,” lamented Caul.
“It was not our best game because, for some reason, we were lacking heart and passion for the game.”
Goalkeeper Kate Osadchuk was the difference maker for the No. 2-seeded Pilots, making 21 saves combined through regulation and the two 10-minute overtime halves as No. 3-rated Maranatha outshot Providence 34-10.
In the 23rd minute, Caul got a step on the Sabercats’ defence and reeled in a perfect through ball from Julika Kehler, then drilled a shot to the low left corner of the net past Maranatha goalkeeper Michaela Marino to give Providence a 1-0 lead.
It was almost déja vu eight minutes later, as Kehler again sent Caul in alone.
But with two Sabercats nipping at her heels, Caul rushed her shot and sent it wide of the right post.
“That one made me very frustrated,” confessed Caul.
“It was a perfect opportunity and I missed it,” she added.
The rest of the half was a series of narrow misses at more scoring chances for Caul due to the tight coverage of Maranatha middle defender Courtney Dunn, who denied Caul getting free yet again on three separate occasions.
“After the game, I had (Dunn) come up to me and tell me that I scared her the whole game because I was too fast and I told her she did fine because she kept up to me,” Caul revealed.
“She was a solid defender and she worked her butt off.”
Caul, who was slightly nicked in the fourth minute after getting her ankle kicked, then went down in the Sabercats’ 18-yard box in the 58th minute after rolling over on the same ankle when she tried to kick the ball.
“It was very stiff when I woke up this morning and it’s sore, but I’ll be fine,” assured Caul.
The sniper was noticeably hobbled on her next few rushes up the field and came out of the game briefly.
Before she could return, Maranatha broke through for the equalizer in the 68th minute when Harmony Loch hammered a shot from just inside the Providence 18-yard box which found the top right corner of the net behind Osadchuk.
Loch had to be carried off six minutes later after injuring her right leg and with the Sabercats playing one person short briefly, Providence almost took advantage.
A long shot by Kaitie Smolders went off Marino’s hands and then off the crossbar, but stayed out.
In the 79th minute, the Pilots had good luck of their own as a lengthy boot from Maranatha got just over Osadchuk’s hands, but also struck the crossbar and was quickly covered by the netminder.
Maranatha had all five shots in the overtime session, but Osadchuk thwarted Hannah McCutcheon twice to preserve the tie.
Providence takes on the lowest-seeded team in the field, No. 6-ranked Baptist Bible College (Clarks Summitt, Penn.) today at 5 p.m. in what is virtually a must-win game if the Pilots want a chance to get into Saturday’s gold-medal game.
“We know we can do it, we just need to play as a team today,” emphasized Caul.
“We played like individuals yesterday, not a team,” she continued.
“Our coach told us this morning if we play with pride for our school and our team, and play with love, we’ll be fine today.”
