LONDON, Ont. - First-year striker Katrina Giantsopolous netted her second goal of the season and the weekend to help lead the Western women's soccer team to a 2-0 victory over the Laurier Golden Hawks on Sunday afternoon on Mustangs Field.
With the win, the Mustangs improve to 4-0-3 on the season and remain in second place in a competitive OUA West division, sitting just behind the 5-0-2 Guelph Gryphons. The Golden Hawks loss drops their record to 2-6-0 on the season as they remain in seventh place in the OUA West division.
Giantsopolous was not the only Mustang to contribute to the scoreboard for the purple and white in the victory, as second-year midfielder Madison Johnson scored her first goal of the season to secure the Western lead.
"I know yesterday in Waterloo, they were playing a little further back on us, so it gave our forwards a lot more space to move and I had the ability to turn and get a good shot off, but today I was lucky to get a really great service from out wide," said Giantsopolous on her pair of goals on the weekend. "We really felt the heat out there today, it was a tough day on a tough schedule, but we don't make excuses. We just had to go out there and try and get the three points."
"Katrina's a very talented attacking player," said Mustangs head coach Martin Painter. "She's strong, skillful, smart, and she's quickly getting up to full-match fitness. I think that all showed this weekend. It's all about building up confidence in those attacking areas and this was a good weekend for her. I hope she carry this into the rest of the season."
Western controlled the pace in the opening minutes of the match, pressuring the Laurier defence behind the ball movement of their strikers. However, neither team found a way to earn a promising scoring chance until late in the half, where Western's Giulia Geraci missed off the crossbar to nearly earn the Mustangs the lead. Despite Geraci's opportunity, neither side found the back of the net through the first 45 minutes of action as Western went into halftime facing a 0-0 draw.
The Mustangs dominated the ball to open the second half, moving the ball with purpose, but failing to create a shot on goal through the opening minutes. Western's efforts were finally rewarded midway through the half, as Giantsopolous netted her second goal of the weekend for the purple and white following Julia Crnjac's corner kick. Western continued their attack until the final minutes of the game, as Johnson earned her first goal of the season after a barrage of shots from the purple and white to extend the lead to 2-0 with just minutes left in the match, leading to the eventual victory.
"We started with a little bit less movement than we had yesterday, but I thought we had a lot more urgency in the second half today," said Giantsopolous. "Once we got one in the back of the net, I think that was the kick we needed to finish the job."
"We're improving and progressing everyday, but there's still a lot of areas that we're looking to clean up," said Painter. "We're a good defensive team, but our offence can always keep getting better. This weekend was a great step in the right direction."
Western will be back in action this Friday, September 21, where they will travel to Hamilton, Ont. to take on the McMaster Marauders in what will be their second meeting of the season. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 P.M. EST.
