Women's Voyageurs Cup West Match 6: Edm vs Cal [R]

[DJT]

<center>Women's Voyageurs Cup West 2004

Match 6Edmonton Aviators vs. Calgary WildfireTuesday, July 13, 2004 - 8:30 PM MDT

Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton</center>

Match Previews

[*]Edmonton

   » WVCW:  1-0-2  2-5  3  /  W-League:  5-2-5  17-16  17

   » Aviators preview page

   » Scott Zerr, The Edmonton Sun - posted below

[*]Calgary

   » WVCW:   0-0-3  1-9 0  /  W-League:  2-0-8  11-27  6

Voyageurs Cup

[DJT]

From The Edmonton Sun:

Strong finish

SCOTT ZERR, EDMONTON SUN

With just two games to go in their inaugural W-League season, the Aviator women's team is looking to finish up with a bang, beginning tonight against the Calgary Wildfire.

"We're looking at it that if we can pick up six points from our last two games we'll have a good chance of finishing third (in the Western Conference)," said head coach Janine Helland.

"We felt we had good opportunities to knock off both Seattle and Vancouver and they were the only teams to beat us by more than one goal.

"If we can finish third, we know where we'll stand - right behind the two best teams."

The Aviators will wrap up their campaign Friday night against the Denver Lady Cougars in a matchup on the artificial turf at Foote Field.

[DJT]

Edmonton 2 Calgary 0

Flock 2'

Ash (Gustafson) 53'

The 2004 Women's Voyageurs Cup West ends with the following standings:

Vancouver4-0-013-212

Edmonton2-0-24-56

Calgary0-0-41-110

[beachesl]

A good gutsy performance by Calgary for sure. They almost made up in grit and energy what they lacked in comparative skill. They had several good attacks up the wings, but could not penetrate the last line of defence. The relatively large number of WF shots and Av saves in the usl scorecard is misleading, as most of the WF shots were lobs in from outside the box. Steph Labbe, while very good as usual, was not really tested. In injury time, the did WF hit the post when they suprised a tired Av's team.

Don't know much about the Wildfire, but they seem like a young competent squad, and they should make great strides next year.

The Women Av's and the Wildfire must be the smallest teams in the League, at least in the western division. They did not seem much taller than the U-13 women I saw on the weekend at the pRocky Mountain Cup, except they were a lot stockier (especially most of the Av's). The American teams are generally huge, tho lacking the individual skills.

I was amazed at how tough Sandra Ash, the 36 year old mother of 2, was. She was a regular Gordie Howe, regularly using her elbows to punish the Wildfire players when the refs weren't looking. No quarter given to the youngsters.