Both of Cowichan’s Lower Island Women’s Soccer Association teams suffered heartbreaking defeats last weekend.
The Cowichan Outlaws mounted a second-half comeback to draw even in their Div. 2 meeting with Lakehill at the Sherman Road turf on Saturday only to surrender a goal in the last minute to fall 3-2. The night before, the Over 30A Cowichan Cougars gave up a goal in the final five minutes as they lost 1-0 on the road against Castaways.
Lakehill showed up on Cowichan’s turf with 22 players, while the home team had 14. Outplaying their hosts, Lakehill held a 2-0 lead until the final two minutes when Cowichan switched up their formation and pressed hard. Emily Lindsay and Stacey De Lusignan, the latter summoned over from the Over 30 team, scored goals to tie the game, but Lakehill made good on a free kick to recover the lead in the last minute.
“This team is our benchmark and we will continue to push,” Outlaws coach Neall Rowlings said. “We now sit in fourth place out of 10, and will be travelling to Bays next week. We have seven quite serious injuries out of a roster of 19 players. It’s a perfect storm. We aren’t giving up; if we need to add more players than we will.”
The Cougars were hoping to build on their season-opening win from the previous weekend, but came up against a challenge in the form of last year’s division champions and Stephanie Shergold Cup finalists. Even though Castaways emerged with the win, coach Darian Achurch was pleased with the team’s performance.
“It was a great game between two teams that did not want to lose,” he noted. “Both defences were strong and refused to offer up any number of chances.”
Goalies Sara Tweten and Caitlyn Rissanen made huge diving saves to keep the game close, and Deanne Mearns and Venessa MacDowell had strong outings in the midfield. The Cougars will be at home this Sunday, hosting Gorge at Evans Park at 10 a.m.
kevin.rothbauer@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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