Oceanside’s first ladies of soccer scored early and often on Sunday as they shelled the Nanaimo Wheaty’s 9-nil in Mid Island Women’s Soccer League action.
Played out under warm sunny skies at QB Rec Fields, the locals came to play and looked downright impressive in their regular season home opener. Centre midfielder Chrissy ‘the Croatian sensation’ Klemencic opened the scoring eight minutes when she hammered one home from in close, then struck again about 15 minutes later. Rebecca Collins upped it to 3-0 not long after that, which is how it stood at the half.
“We had plenty of opportunities in the first half,” OU coach Dan Mahony said after the game, explaining how the Wheaty’s game plan had them clogging up the front of the net, making it tough on Oceanside to get their shots through, “so at half time we had to change our tactics slightly.”
That they did, as they scored six more.
Collins added another, and Sue Maltby, Shanna Nickolet, Shelly Terpstra, Angelina Gastaldello and Biff Edwards all added singles.
“The fact that seven different players scored in the game was primarily due to the unselfishness of our forwards who were able to draw their goalie and defenders to the side and then pass back to our midfielders who had better (shot options),” said Mahony.
Oceanside keeper Pam Richer, who has been lights out so far this season, had a relatively easy day at the soccer office.
“We’ve always played fairly well defensively,” Mahony said of his squad, which plays at a Div. 1 level, “but we have to be able to up our ability to score goals in order to challenge the really good teams, so I’m hoping (Sunday’s game) will help the team.”
The win ups OU’s regular season record to 2-0 and has them in the thick of things for top spot in the nine-team MIWSL. Port Alberni United, one of the teams that have made it clear they intend on taking a run at the five-time defending league champions from Oceanside this year, is currently sitting first in the standings at 3-0, with the Courtenay Kickers, Campbell River Outlaws and Nanaimo United all right in there at 2-1.
GAME ON
OU is on the road this Sunday in Campbell River to take on the Bandits who will be gunning for their first win.