As It Happened: Pre-Season: Dalhousie (W) v. Saint Mary's Huskies (W)

By Dylan Matthias

(Dal Soccer Live likes to arrive fashionably late because we feel it makes us look like the highly swanky, very busy, I-have-a-BlackBerry-on-ALL-the-time mainstream media we are trained to be. But today, we just ran into a big traffic snafu on the MacDonald bridge. So this game started for us in the third minute.)

4min: SMU have very little early possession as we pick this game up late. Looks like McKenna's starting in goal for Dal, Richard and Huck up front. Kate MacDonald, O"Reilly, Santilli, McKilligan, Colleen MacDonald, Henry, and #2 arranged all over the field. It looks vaguely 4-4-2ish with a diamond midfield. Santilli's playing right back, which is odd. Please bear in mind we don't have confirmed rosters yet, so these names might be slightly off. Where we don't know, we'll just put the shirt number.

7min: SMU 19 has a 23-yard effort which flies high and wide.

11min: Pretty much a starting line-up for Dal today, I would assume. Some talent out there, at least to start.

15min: Unbelievably slow game so far, but given the heat, that's not surprising. 34 celsius today.

16min: Richard beats SMU's goalkeeper and crosses for Huck, who can't reach it. SMU clear.

19min: Water break.

25min: Landry is in, as is Gunderson. The SMU 'keeper drops a simple shot and Huck misses a wide open net.

26min: Crewe is also in for McLean. Rookie recruit Daphne Wallace is in for O'Reilly.

27min: Hardy (?) drives a long ball into the SMU box, which may well have been going in until Landry headed it 20 feet wide. Good to see Landry's back.

28min: Richard out and Bianca Jakisa in.

31min: Crewe gets caught in possession when she really shouldn't have. Henry recovers. Crewe has drifted to the centre a bit and Colleen MacDonald is now playing defensive midfield.

33min: Colleen MacDonald and Huck out for Kate MacDonald and O'Reilly. O'Reilly's sitting quite deep, here.

34min: Landry nearly sets up Kate MacDonald, but her shot is fluffed and Landry recollects it from an offside position.

36min: It looks as though Lousie Yeon (?) is now in goal for Dal. At least, it doesn't look like McKenna. Rosters will be out next week sometime.

39min: O'Reilly loops a beautiful short chip for Kate MacDonald, which the Tigers' striker just can't get a foot on. Jakisa, who has had maybe two touches, is withdrawn for Katie Richard.

40min: Kate MacDonald blasts a cross from the right and SMU's new goalkeeper palms it just out of danger.

42min: Richard looks low from the right flank, and the goalkeeper parries it out of play. The corner comes to nothing.

45min: Dal win a corner on a nothing play that SMU 15 cleared out poorly. SMU deal with MacDonald's cross very badly, but no one in white can capitalize.

49min: Half-time. Dal haven't exactly been inspired here, but there have been occasional nice touches and some good forward passing. Would like to see a little more support for the strikers, but at the moment they are in the ascendancy. SMU, much like this fixture last year, look torrid.

Hutchison's been rotating the squad, understandably given the heat. He has another game against CBU and another one against SMU coming up.

The second half's a-comin'. SMU have put their first goalkeeper back in goal, which is a good idea after the other one's performance. Dal look unchanged, more or less, though McLean is back in.

47min: SMU win a corner and McLean heads clear without pulling her groin.

49min: Landry is in on goal before being called offside. Too close to call from my angle, but the assistant was right in front of it.

50min: Dal keep the assistant busy with another offside offence. Hutchison doesn't like either of them.

52min: SMU 2 mishandles giving Landry a chance before responding by pushing her off the ball. Then she does the same thing again to Kate MacDonald.

53min: The SMU 'keeper handles outside the area and isn't booked despite Landry's somewhat immediate presence.

54min: Dal look a lot more cohesive here.

55min: Richard and Kate MacDonald make way for Jakisa and McKilligan.

57min: SMU make two changes, can't see who and I don't have a roster so it doesn't matter very much, anyway.

58min: A SMU corner is headed wide by #17 in front of Dal's net.

62min: Wallace holds off SMU 19 and slides it to Jakisa, who can't flick it past the 'keeper, who makes a good save there.

63min: Wallace and O'Reilly off, Santilli and Gunderson on. Dal have a corner, but SMU clear.

67min: SMU win a corner which Yeon (?) fumbles. Dal clear, mostly because SMU can't be bothered to score.

67min: At the coaches request, the ref calls time. No one needs to get hurt in this heat. 0-0, same as last year. Hutchison won't be happy; he wasn't last year, either. Dal should really be beating SMU, who are a playoff bubble team at best. CBU will be harder than this. That said, it's a friendly result, and it doesn't mean much. See you next time.

--Dylan Matthias is the incoming sports editor at the Dalhousie Gazette. He runs Dal Soccer Live on the side to provide more in-depth coverage of AUS and ACAA soccer. He has been a Toronto FC fan since Danny Dichio scored the team's first ever goal. It showed him the magic of soccer.