ANCASTER, ON – The Redeemer Royals women's soccer team hosted the Niagara Knights on Tuesday night.
The teams were pretty even in the standings. Redeemer held a record of 2-3-1, where Niagara was a tie better at 2-2-2, and saw similar results against the same opponents.
The game was high-flying out of the gate. The teams exchanged chances and near-misses early in the first half. But the connections weren't working either way as the game stayed knotted at zero well into the first half.
That was until the 38th minute where the Royals were able to draw a free kick in a dangerous position in Knights territory. Ava Manshanden lined up to take it well outside the box and fired an absolute screamer that went bar-down to open the scoring for Redeemer.
Right before half, Joelle Mitton found herself loose with the ball on a break. She shot and scored a beautiful goal, but it was deemed offside. The lead remained at 1.
That's how the first half would end, 1-0. The Knights outshot the Royals 6-5.
The second half saw some more defensive structure. Neither team gave up too many more high-danger opportunities.
This was until Niagara started pressing late. They had much of the possession beyond the 75th minute and were pressuring hard.
The Royals bent but didn't break, highlighted by an outrageous diving stop from goalkeeper Jasmine DeBoer in the 90th minute.
And Manshanden's goal would be enough to dictate this one, as 1-0 would be your final.
The Royals wrap up their regular season home contests on Saturday, October 10th when they host the Mohawk Mountaineers at 1:00pm.
