By Dylan Matthias
Pregame: Warm-ups are afoot–it's cold enough to be a hockey game out here.
Dal should win this fairly easily–they won 3-0 in Antigonish and they could very easily better than scoreline on home turf at Wickwire.
Dal are missing Katie Richard, Kyla Gunderson, Rieka Santilli and Alannah McLean to injury, meaning Erika Boon is on the bench for the Tigers. Alix Burch is out of action for X.
Starting Line-ups:
Dal: McKenna, Mitchell, Crewe, O'Reilly, MacDonald, Huck, Wallace, Hardy, McKilligan, Landry, Henry.
St. FX: Thompson, Cameron, Ramsden, Desjardins-Lorimer, Zanette, Dragan, MacNeil, Holland, Sunada, Penner, Melong.
Emma Landry looks cold.
1min: Dal kick off and put it straight out of play. Crewe fouls up the first back pass of the day, forcing McKenna to clear for a throw.
3min: Landry just about steals it from Melong but takes a heavy touch. X get possession and Sunada attacks Crewe who overcommits again, forcing Henry to hack clear this time. This could be a long night for Crewe.
4min: Considering it's homecoming weekend, this stadium is utterly dead. Why, oh why do Dal students not support their sports teams?
7min: X have had a huge amount of possession early on. They are doing nothing with it, however.
8min: Stephanie Crewe successfully clears a ball without troubling McKenna.
10min: GOAL! (McKilligan 1) Huck loops a ball over Penner which holds up beautifully for McKilligan. McKilligan, who's been hot of late, hammers it low past Thompson. Could be a long night for Thompson, too.
13min: Penner goes down with a knock to her ankle. We'll have to watch that.
15min: A Dal free kick out wide should make it 2-0, only Landry manages to shoot it off her own leg on the deflection and the ball skitters away.
21min: Landry and McKilligan would be in alone but for a slightly mis-timed run on MacDonald's through pass, forcing an offside.
23min: Penalty to Dal–Landry is brought down trying to shoot. There's no advantage and Mr. Moses calls the penalty. That's a great call.
24min: GOAL! (MacDonald 3) MacDonald smashes it low into the corner. Dal are in full control now. It's hard to emphasize how great a call that was on the penalty. The X men's team watching this game don't think so, but it's a myth that a shot negates the foul. That's a terrific, gutsy advantage call to see if Landry would score and it's one that's not always made, even at the professional level. Fantastic job.
30min: X win a corner off of another bobble by Crewe. Penner loops it behind for a goal kick.
33min: Mallory MacDonald replaces Cameron.
34min: Landry can't control a long ball from Henry. Wallace gets onto it and mishits her shot, which bounces back to Landry, who scores, but from an offside position.
38min: X are getting very little from forward breaks and have lost most of the possession they had at the beginning of the half. McKilligan comes off for Jakisa.
40min: Hardy swings another cross in which Landry misses but Huck runs onto. The Dal full back's shot is drilled low and well wide, but Dal are running most of the chances now.
45min: A rare mistake from Henry gifts Mallory MacDonald a chance. Dal were pressing too far forward and Zanette got in behind Henry to set up MacDonald.
45min: Ramsden floors Mitchell and the ref calls half-time immediately after the free kick.
48min: We're back. Lots of pinging, uncontrolled passes early on here.
51min: Jakisa is sent through on another long pass which St. FX defend poorly. Thompson is quick off her line to beat the speedy Jakisa to it.
53min: Dal have a free kick wide left. MacDonald tests Thompson directlu although the X goalkeeper won't be dropping that one.
56min: Jakisa wins a corner with an enterprising run. Thompson mishandles the ball out for another one which Mitchell drills wide.
60min: Landry, who came out for McKilligan at half time, replaces Jakisa.
62min: Landry wins the ball from Melong again in the area, pushing her in the process. Dal are tearing St. FX apart with simple through passes. Now it's Wallace drilling a shot at Thompson.
65min: GOAL! (Brass 1) A long cross bounces to Brass who completely mishits her shot. Unfortunately, McKenna had already charged off her line to intercept and the loopy shot flies over her and into the net. Of the three goals Dal have have allowed this year, that's got to be the weirdest.
68min: GOAL! (O'Reilly 1) Thompson, so as not to disappoint the fans who wanted a repeat of her performance against Dal earlier in October. Huck floats a cross towards Thompson, who watches it sail right between her hands and onto O'Reilly's foot, giving her a very easy finish.
70min: McKenna, hoping to ease Thompson's feelings, drops one of her own. She was fouled, though, so it's not really the same. Blodgett comes into the game.
75min: Landry misses from less than a yard. Don't ask me how. A cross gets behind Thompson and onto Landry's foot. It might have gone in if she hadn't touched it, actually.
78min: Dal are all over X right now.
79min: Cameron is back on for an injured Brass.
80min: Dal concede a free kick wide left and Blodgett is removed for Wallace, whom she replaced earlier. The free kick is straight to McKenna.
82min: This game is over.
84min: McKilligan is replaced by Vanderlann and McPhee comes on for X, replacing Cameron, I think.
85min: Dal send a corner in which everyone, including Thompson, misses. Mitchell just fails to bang it in at the back post.
87min: Thompson manages to catch a looping ball from Huck.
90min: This has puttered out–X will take their third multi-goal loss in a row and third loss with three conceded. They're dropping faster than university students on homecoming weekend. Yes, I had to make at least one bad homecoming joke.
90+min: Full-time after a poor Dal corner. Easy three points for Dal, although they'll be disappointed with the goal they conceded.
–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.
