The Cowichan Cougars returned to the win column with a convincing 3-0 victory over Juan de Fuca at the Sherman Road turf last Friday night.
The Cougars won their first two games of the over-30A women’s soccer season, but hadn’t been on the right side of the score for several weeks. Head coach Darian Achurch changed things up for Friday’s home game, pushing three players forward to pressure the opposing defence and create more scoring opportunities, and the strategy paid off.
“We really wanted to start fast and focus on getting lots of quality chances early,” Achurch said. “The ladies enjoyed the open style of play it created and were able to capitalize on their chances.”
The Cougars had been kept off the scoresheet the previous week, despite dominating play, but they capitalized early against JDF when Claudette Crisp finished off a nice passing play with a hard shot in the corner. Ashley Stultz followed that up by beating three defenders before sliding the ball past the JDF keeper.
Rather than sitting on their lead, the Cougars kept up their aggressive play in the second half, and were rewarded when Courtenay McGeachy pounced on a rebound to score the team’s third goal of the match.
“We worked on finishing a lot in practice this week so it was good to put some goals in the net,” McGeachy said. “It has been frustrating to be the better team at times but not come away with a positive result.”
The Cougars will visit top-ranked Castaways in Victoria this Friday.
