Slow start to women's preseason

By Dylan Matthias

The Dalhousie women got off to a slow start to preseason on Sept. 1st, losing 1 - 0 to Saint Mary's and drawing Acadia 0 - 0 in two short exhibition matches at Wickwire field.

Acadia also drew with Saint Mary's in another game.

Despite the poor results, and what Tigers' coach Jack Hutchison described as nervous soccer, the Dalhousie recruits showed some promise.

"Some people are stepping up, some people are not quite where we expect them to be."

Doriana Homerski, who scored impressive numbers of goals in Ontario high school play, looked dangerous up front for Dal. She's taller than pretty much anyone on the field and the Tigers looked dangerous in the air for the first time in two and half years on Thursday.

Kristy McGregor-Bales and Megan Willox, two other rookies on defense, looked more than competent. McGregor-Bales held down the centre of defense when she played and made the loss of Amanda Henry a little easier to bear, though some horrific turnovers from Dal's other young centrebacks muted her impact. Willox consistently made penetrating runs from the fullback position well into her second game of the day, and looked dangerous in the process.

The Tigers have also acquired another back-up goalkeeper in Shannon Junor, and Hutchison thinks she may push Taryn McKenna for a starting spot sooner rather than later.

"Big positives out of her," Hutchison said. He also mentioned that she can benefit from hard work with Dal goalkeeping coach Gary Carter.

Replacing the significant departures won't be easy for Dal.

"If we're going to replace [the] lost talent, we're going to replace it as a team," said Hutchison. He emphasized that all of the veterans would be expected to step up and lead the team.

--Dylan Matthias is the incoming editor-in-chief of 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.