Royals take the top of the table
By Davie Wong, Sports Editor
With the second half of the season on the go, the importance of every matchup goes through the roof. So when you play your historic rivals in a game that could decide everything, you can just guess how intense that match is. This was not only the case for one of the matches for the Royals women’s soccer team, but two, as they took on their rivals the Langara Falcons in a doubleheader.
The action got started on Saturday at Musqueam Park under poor weather conditions. The rain came down in gallons but both sides were determined to see the match through. With so much on the line, neither team wanted to wait any longer. The action got underway despite the weather, but the rain had an unmistakable effect on the game. The wet ball made passes harder to receive, and for the most part of the first half of the game, it was hard for either side to string together passes.
That changed dramatically in the second half, as the team came out and dominated the Falcons. The Royals found goals from Andrea Perrotta, Taylor Wettig, and Mikayla Hamilton, in a huge second-half effort. The Falcons had a couple efforts near the end of the game, but were met by Royals keeper Alexa Gazzola, who kept them off the scoresheet. With that win in the books, the team enjoyed their brief moment in the pouring rain before heading home to prepare for the next day, where the Falcons would be coming to visit them.
Although the team had won three points from the Falcons the day before, everyone knew that six would be the ultimate goal. The intensity from Saturday’s match carried over to Sunday, and the team made sure the Falcons got a very warm welcome to the Royals’ home.
Mikayla Hamilton welcomed the Falcons in style, cashing in on two goals in gorgeous fashion, sliding her shots into the bottom left hand corner each time. Momentum carried the team from there, as they kept attacking the Langara side, keeping possession out of their end. Andrea Perrotta struck the woodworks with a fantastically placed shot that almost gave the Royals three.
Going into the second half, first-year winger Samantha Frketich exchanged Perrotta’s bad luck for a goal of her own, scoring on a Mikayla Hamilton cross. The Royals would finish the rout with a fourth goal from Michelle Wessa. The Falcons hardly had a chance. Whenever they did get into the Royals’ third, Alexa Gazzola was more than ready for them, and kept them out for the clean sheet.
This weekend’s games marked multiple milestones for the Royals. Hamilton scored three on the weekend to jump her to five on the season and tie her for first. Andrea Perrotta also scored once this weekend, and sits on five for the season. Alexa Gazzola tallied her second and third shutout in her sixth and seventh game. She now leads the PACWEST in shutouts, and goals conceded per 90 minutes played with an insane ratio of 0.67.
The team also snagged six points from the league leaders, putting them at first place in the PACWEST conference, and locking in their place in the PACWEST playoffs, where they will be looking to repeat as champions.
After the game, Coach Chris Laxton spoke about how it felt to see his team hand their rivals such heavy losses. “Those were two massive performances. We were strong in the back, our midfield kept them contained and were able to keep us going forward, and our forwards came up big. We limited them to a couple of corner kicks and through balls that we dealt with, and we put them under pressure.”
