The Memorial Sea-Hawks (4-3-3) will play host to the Dalhousie Tigers (6-3-1) in a back-to-back this weekend, as they look to get some wins after clinching a playoff berth this past weekend.
The Sea-Hawks come off a weekend in Nova Scotia where they fell to Cape Breton 2-1, and tied the X-Women 2-2. Dalhousie are coming into St. John's after a 3-0 win against Mount Allison.
The Sea-Hawks, led by midfielder Nicole Torraville with 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists), will look to build off their games last weekend in order to strengthen their playoff position. Wins this weekend over the Tigers could catapult them from the 6th seed to the 4th seed with help from some other teams, giving them a more favorable matchup in the playoffs.
The Tigers come into the weekend after beating Mount Allison 3-0 on the strength of 3 goals from 4th year midfielder Maya Venkataraman. Memorial will look to slow the British Columbia native down in order to take down the Tigers.
The Hawks will look to shut down the offense of the Tigers in front of their talented goalkeeper, Sydney Walsh. Walsh, the 3rd year, has started all 10 games this season, keeping 6 clean sheets, and only allowing more than 1 goal once, when she allowed 2 against St. FX last Sunday. The team in front of her has been strong at limiting opportunities, with opposing teams only scoring 5 goals in total over 10 games, giving them an impressive 0.50 goals against average.
When asked about the significance of these games, head coach Mike Power said "We are currently trying to finish as high up the standings as possible in order to carry positivity into the playoffs. We certainly intend to make a splash in the playoffs and be a legitimate contender."
He also added "Dal are a quality team and one of our potential playoffs opponents, so how we match up will be important. We will be looking to learn as much as we can about the Tigers and we have an opportunity to gain some confidence and momentum."
Power also noted that the team is happy to have mathematically clinched their playoff spot, and that it's not something that they take for granted. They realize the work that is ahead of them if they want to compete for the AUS title.
The Sea-Hawks play Friday at 5:00PM NST and Saturday at 1:00PM NST, head down to King George V Park to catch the games live and show your support this weekend. You can also watch the games live on www.austv.ca, keep up with the Sea-Hawks scores on Twitter or watch the live scoring at www.goseahawks.ca.
Written by: Darnell Downs