The Algonquin Thunder women’s soccer team failed to clinch a playoff berth on Saturday, losing 3-0 to the Seneca Sting.
Carley Uddenberg had two goals for the Sting while Ellie Hayes had the other goal.
Hayes’ goal came six minutes in and had the Thunder chasing the game right from the start. They managed to stay in the game until the 38th minute when Seneca got two quick goals from Uddenberg just under two minutes apart.
Uddenberg’s first goal came off a great individual effort. She dribbled her way to the net and fired a strike into the top right corner, giving Thunder goalkeeper Kirsten Skinner no chance. Her second goal came off a screened shot from the left side that went in the bottom right corner.
Skinner made a great save around the 24th minute when the score was still just 1-0 that kept the Thunder in the game. The Thunder had some chances late in the game but were unable to convert.
Coach Basil Phillips thought his team played a decent second half but didn’t respond well after the two quick goals.
“We lost the shape, we lost the intensity, we lost the desire,” he said. “The heads went down, and at that point they were just able to run through us.”
Both teams were undefeated coming into the game but Phillips insisted that that was not a factor in the Thunder game plan.
“We know they’re a good team,” he said. “We couldn’t catch them for first but we had a chance to get the bye and not play the qualifying round so that’s probably the biggest thing. The record is the record, we were just looking to finish on a good note.”
He said they played a good game the day before in a 2-0 win over Fleming but didn’t follow that up with a good effort on Saturday.
Because of the loss, the Thunder now have to play a qualifying crossover match Saturday, Oct. 20 in order to continue on to the playoffs. The location and opponent are yet to be determined. If they are to win, coach Phillips said there needs to be more teamwork.
“We just gotta get everyone on the same page, everybody working together,” he said. “If we do that, then we’re good, if we don’t do that we can be poor.”
The loss breaks a 56-game winning streak that spanned nearly a decade. The last time the Thunder lost a regular season game was a 7-0 loss on Oct. 17, 2009 against St. Lawrence College. Because of that, the players were emotional and were not made available to the media.