It was only two weeks ago, but the Seneca Sting women's soccer team knew they were battling a tougher team than the one they shut out 3-0 on September 29. That St. Lawrence Vikings team visited the Newnham Field Sunday afternoon in an OCAA qualifier match to decide who would move on the OCAA quarter-final.

The match started out with neither team wanting to make a mistake that would cost their team a goal. As a result, the teams failed to convert many offensive opportunities during the first half.

One of the better opportunities came in the 10th minute off the foot of Cassandra Nicolodi. The first year took a pass, beat a defender and struck the ball towards the Vikings' goal. Keeper Jessica Dodge made the save to keep the match scoreless.

The match remained scoreless well into the second half. Sting striker Samantha Macchione had an opportunity to put her team on the board in the 55th minute, but Dodge once again stood tall to make a point blank save.

The Vikings would begin generating some offense of their own early in the second half, but Sting keeper Alexandria Kastanis was there to shut down any chances.

Seneca would finally beat Dodge in the 67th minute. Macchione stole the ball just inside the eighteen yard box, stepped in and fired a left footer into the Vikings goal from twelve yards out to give her team the lead.

Teammate Victoria Curci would add to the Sting lead in the 78th minute when the team was awarded a free kick from twenty-five yards out. Curci sent a curling shot over the Vikings' wall into the upper right side of the net past a diving Dodge for a 2-0 lead.

With their season hanging in the balance, the Vikings pressured the Sting defenders and eventually found an opportunity in the form of a lengthy free kick. Allyson Creaser converted a header past Kastanis in the 87th minute to pull the Vikings within one.

In an effort to save time, the Vikings congratulated Creaser while hustling back to midfield as time was running out.  

St. Lawrence managed to generate one final opportunity during injury time when they were awarded a corner, but Kastanis caught the ball, listened for the final whistle and celebrated with her teammates.

Seneca will now move on to the quarter-finals next Saturday where they will visit Fanshawe at 1 p.m. St. Lawrence finished the year 2-5-2 and 6th in the OCAA East.

Source: Seneca College