Weir heroics not enough as Tommies fall to Hurricanes

Fredricton, NB - The St Thomas University Tommies fell to the Holland College Hurricane 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at Grant Harvey Turf Field.

The Hurricanes were persistently going at the Tommies goal but failed to convert any of their chances in the first half. Tommies keeper, Jessica Weir (Greenwood, NS), came up with multiple saves to keep the Tommies in the match. She finished the match with 10 saves. STU coach, David Itoafa, was very impressed with Weir's performance.

"Very solid in there. She made the saves that needed to be made and she has really good long kicks and we scored from that so she's a very good addition to the squad."

 It was not until the second half that the goals came for both teams. The Hurricanes took the lead through a wonderful strike from Kina Azuma (Tokyo, JPN). She took a shot from the top of the box that dipped under the crossbar to beat the impressive Weir.

The Tommies fought back towards the end of the match and thought they grabbed a point at the end of regulation time. Delaney Hancock (Peterborough, ON) got in behind the defence and showed immense composure to slide the ball beyond the rushing Holland goalkeeper to score her third goal in two games.

"Delaney looks hungry every time and she wants to show herself and we love to see that so she's earning her spot in the team right now," Itoafa said after the match.

The Tommies were coasting after the goal until conference top scorer, Emily Lepine (Bridgewater, NS), got onto the end of a pass and shot under Weir to win the match for the Hurricanes in added time.

The Tommies next match will be on Saturday when they host the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics at Grant Harvey. The Hurricanes next match is also on Saturday when they travel to face the Crandall University Chargers.

By Brandon Salick