Barbara Nascimento scores on a Rattlers penalty kick to bring Medicine Hat within one goal in the 79th minute of their playoff game against Olds College on Friday. Medicine Hat would come back to win 5-4 after being down 4-2 late in the second half. - NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Rattlers women’s soccer team came back to win close, 5-4 in their playoff match Friday against Olds College.
Medicine Hat’s win came on the back of Barbara Nascimento’s two goals in the last 10 minutes of the match as the Rattlers fell behind in the second half before their comeback.
The Broncos opened the scoring in the 15th minute on an unassisted goal from Kassidy Kelly. Medicine Hat’s Emily Lafreniere got the Rattlers on the board, assisted by Molly Morris, at the 19-minute mark.
Both teams traded goals again in the first half, with Olds College’s Felicia Rodney getting her first of three in the match in the 26th minute before Shelby Bach tied it all up in the 33rd.
Olds College jumped out of the second half with Rodney’s second of the match to put the Broncos up 3-2 in the 48th minute. Rodney added her third goal 12 minutes later to bring the Broncos lead to 4-2. But the Rattlers weren’t out of fight yet.
Nascimento scored on a Rattlers penalty kick in the 79th minute to bring them within one before scoring the tying goal in the 84th. Five minutes later, Ana Waurynchuk had a corner kick that Broncos net minder, Maeve Vant’Klooster, could not squeeze above her head to push Medicine Hat ahead 5-4.
Nascimento says she had the mindset of not giving up after the Rattlers fell in the second half.
“What I had in my mind was to just never give up,” she said.
Rattlers head coach Miles Pinsent said it was Nascimento’s best game of the season.
He said he was happy with the win but wasn’t pleased with how the Rattlers got there against the Broncos.
“I just didn’t feel it was necessarily our best performance,” head coach Miles Pinsent said. “We kept making the same mistakes and they kept taking advantage of those mistakes. I wish we had adapted a little bit earlier in the game than we did but obviously let’s give the girls full credit for the gutsy effort in the final 15 minutes there.”
Medicine Hat will continue their run in the ACAC playoffs as they go to Southern Alberta Institute of Technology on Sunday. Nascimento says if the Rattlers play as a team, they can have success.
“I think we need to stay together because SAIT is a great team. They have some great players and I think if we can be positive with whatever we’re doing in training, we will do well,” Nascimento said.
Pinsent added their game Sunday will take learning from Friday’s win and building on what they’ve worked on all season.
“It’s going to be a completely different game. Last time we played them I thought we matched up quite well and was pleased with our performance against SAIT,” Pinsent said. “It’s not a matter of making any adjustments, I think it’s just what I said to the players when we started in August. We’re going to learn from every experience and try to be better for the next game. I think we will just do the same.”
The match against SAIT gets underway at noon Sunday at SAIT.
Men’s squad victorious
Medicine Hat College’s mens soccer team also advanced in a victory over Olds College for their first playoff match Friday afternoon, taking the game 3-0.
The Rattlers got an early start with a Mason Clapper goal to give Medicine Hat a 1-0 lead at the half.
Arlind Musliu scored early in the second, then Colin Kirkland converted a Rattlers penalty kick to give them their 3-0 lead. Medicine Hat held the lead and shut out the Broncos to move onto the next round of ACAC playoffs.
Just as the women’s team, the men will travel to SAIT on Sunday for their next playoff action. That match gets underway at 2 p.m.
The winning team will advance to the ACAC’s South Division Final on Oct. 23. The bronze and gold medal games are scheduled for Oct. 30.
