Phillips scores three, Queens shutout Rustlers

Brent Forster - RDC

The Red Deer College Queens have played stretches of good soccer this season but were still looking for their offence to fire on all cylinders. Saturday against the Lakeland College Rustlers, that offence started to click at the RDC Field. The Queens scored 4 goals in the 1st half and added another goal in the 2nd half for a 5-0 home victory.

Erin Gill was the starting goalkeeper for the Queens while Danielle Blacklock was in net for the Rustlers. 

It didn't take long for the RDC Queens to open the scoring. In the 11th minute, Reesa Garez fired a low shot that beat Blacklock. About 12 minutes later, Natasha Saleem put the Queens up 2-0. Saleem, an Open Studies student from Calgary, struck a long low shot in the 23rd minute that eluded the Rustlers' goalkeeper. Nicole Phillips put RDC up 3-0 in the 25th minute. The Bachelor of Education student was stationed in front of Lakeland College's net and redirected a pass out of the air. Phillips, from Carstairs, struck again in the 36th minute when she had great positioning in front to extend the Queens' lead to 4-0. That lead held up until the half.

In the 2nd half, Jodie Stoker took over in the Rustlers' net. There were fewer scoring chances in the latter half until Phillips scored her 3rd in the 88th minute to give the RDC Queens a 5-0 lead and eventual victory. Gill turned aside the only shot she faced while Blacklock and Stoker stopped 24-of-29.

Queens assistant coach Admir Sarcevic was pleased with the ability to score today and saw the transfer of skills from practice to the game. "We were missing some goals in the previous games. I believe we showed in the first half what we are capable of doing," said Sarcevic. "We worked this week on finishing and that showed. The ladies played well, listened to instructions and were able to finish. Once you get in that scoring mode, the confidence goes up and everyone steps in. We are more than happy with the performance and result." 

Nicole Phillips was named the Queens player-of-the-game and Sarcevic was happy with her game. "Nicole was where she was supposed to be as a striker," said Sarcevic. "That's what we needed and she scored where she was supposed to score from. It was good."

Phillips thought that communication and consistency were keys to the win. "We were communicating and listening to each other," said Phillips. "Our intensity was better in second half compared to last week and that made a difference."

The RDC Queens (1-1-3) will face the SAIT Trojans (4-0-0) on Saturday, Sept. 30 in Calgary. Currently, the Queens sit in 4th spot with 6 points in the ACAC Women's Soccer South Division standings. The Trojans lead the division with 12 points while Medicine Hat and Olds have 7 points each.