ANCASTER, Ont. - The Mohawk Mountaineers gave up an early goal, but rallied to defeat the Lambton Lions 2-1 in opening day OCAA women's soccer, Saturday Sept. 9.

Lambton's Lauren Shaw got on the end of a high through ball in the eighth minute and put the Lions in front. It was the only goal of the first half at the Redeemer Field in Ancaster.

Two minutes after the re-start, Sarah Ongarato equalized for Mohawk, re-directing a pass along the ground.

A handball, in the Lambton area, resulted in a penalty and Laura Stankovic put the Mountaineers in front  as her hard, high shot went off the goalkeeper's glove and into the corner.

Just a minute later, the Lions were awarded a spot kick when they had a player taken down in the Mohawk area, but Laura Blackburn stopped Cassie Fortier to preserve the home team's one goal triumph.

Blackburn said penalties are never in the keeper's favour, so you kind of take what you get. "It's a mix between luck and skill, between reading and guessing. There are little tells, but you never know for sure," said Blackburn.

Mohawk co-head coach Michael Castellani agreed the team didn't get its head down after yielding the first goal so quickly. "That's what I take away (from the slow start) after making a couple of mistakes. We came back and started to control the game, and we steadily improved," said Castellani.

The Mountaineers' next game will be at Niagara on Wednesday (Sept. 13) at 4 p.m.

Source: Mohawk College