Joey Payeur
Take away the league’s most valuable player and top keeper from most teams and they likely would crumble like a week-old cookie.
But the La Place Rendez-Vous U18 Voyageurs, as they have all year, proved once again last Thursday that they aren’t like most other teams.
A four-goal performance from Myla Angus and a tag-team job between the pipes sparked the Voyageurs’ 7-2 trouncing of Taggs in a rematch of last year’s Borderland Soccer League women’s division final.
“We didn’t want it to be like last year when we went to the [penalty kick] shootout and we lost,” said Angus, who picked up the scoring slack with MVP selection Erin Tomalty away at a wedding in B.C.
“I finally got to my finishes whereas I’ve been letting them go by in recent weeks,” she noted.
The Vous finished first during the regular season with a 14-1-1 record and outscored their opponents 105-19.
Sarah Faragher netted the game’s opening goal for the top-ranked Voyageurs with a rocket from 25 yards out that deflected off the hands of Taggs’ keeper Katie Stearns and bounced in behind her.
Angus, no flash in the pan herself with a 13-goal campaign that was third-best in the league, then got rolling.
After Stearns robbed Angus from in close two minutes after Faragher’s marker, Faragher delivered an accurate lead pass into the 18-yard box that Stearns charged out to get.
But Angus was a tad quicker to the spot and flicked the ball past the netminder and into the empty cage for a 2-0 lead.
Marisa Tremblay helped put second-place Taggs on the board four minutes later when she drew Vous defender Jaymee Fiset to her along the right sideline.
A quick step later and Tremblay had enough space to send a short pass to Golden Boot Award winner Jess Caul (20 goals in the regular season).
Caul carried the ball briefly up field before crushing a shot from 25 yards out that beat diving keeper Sierra Cousineau just inside the far left post.
Cousineau earned the starting nod with the league’s choice as best keeper, Bryanna Dustin, absent due to prior commitments.
With Taggs carrying four substitutes on the bench while the Vous had none in the extremely warm conditions, it seemed as though the defending champs had turned the corner.
But Angus was awaiting them on the other side with a 1-2 combination to the gut.
She first collected Abby Sanders’ neat redirection into the middle of Taggs’ 18-yard box and pounded it in half-a-second before Tremblay could block it with her foot.
Then seven minutes later, Claire Hyatt intercepted Stearns’ goalkick and made a textbook header to send the ball ahead to Angus on the right wing.
Gaining steam with every stride, Angus moved within 10 yards of the goal before drilling the ball to the far side past Stearns for a 4-1 halftime lead.
Cousineau had to leave at that point due to prior commitments, leaving the Voyageurs short one player and forcing Fiset to switch to net duty.
Caul capitalized just four minutes into the second half—taking Tremblay’s pass and darting inside on Vous defender Jenny Hammond.
She then sent a high, arcing shot just over the leaping Fiset for her second of the night to make it a two-goal game.
Stearns then delivered a big save on an Angus breakaway, with Fiset doing the same at the other end in stopping Sara Roach’s rush up the middle.
“I think we played a good as a team and had the game under control,” said Siobhan Mackintosh of the Voyageurs, who was part of a defensive backfield that frustrated Taggs’ shooters into missed shots the rest of the way.
“Being one player short didn’t affect us much.”
The Vous came up with the back-breaker in the 70th minute.
Hyatt pounded a corner kick into the crowded box in front of Stearns, then chased down a loose ball and thumped it towards the keeper.
Stearns was caught in no-man’s land coming out on the play—and both the ball and a net-crashing Faragher ended up in the goal to make it 5-2.
Angus and Hyatt capped the scoring in the final 10 minutes for extra icing on a most satisfying cake for the Voyageurs.
In post-game ceremonies, other women’s division awards were given to Caul (Heart and Soul Award), Jess Badiuk (most sportsmanlike), and Alina Eldridge (top rookie).
Angel McCormack of the Vous won for best defensive player.
