Result of the Wednesday July 4th, 2012 W-League game between
Toronto Lady Lynx vs London Gryphons played at Centennial
Stadium in Etobicoke at 11:00am.

13 min...Lady Lynx Alyscha Mottershead GOAL...TLL Kinley McNicholl
takes cornerkick from left that has Mottershead head ball from
7 yards into cetner of net below bar.

22 min...Lady Lynx Ashley Campbell GOAL...TLL Nicole Waters(?)
from 45 yards on left sends through ball pass to Campbell at
30 yards and she rolls 20 yard shot into right corner of net.

50 min...Lady Lynx Nour Ghoneim GOAL...TLL Cathryn Rodgers at
25 yards sends forward pass to Ghoneim who shoots down middle
from 18 yards into left side of net beyond goalie Emily Davidson.

51 min...Gryphons Lauren Cantin GOAL...LG Melissa Bigg at 20 yards
in middle rolls ball to left to Cantin in clear to shoot 18 yarder
that goalie Sarah Fiorini gets a hand to overhead at 8 yards
but pushes ball into top right corner of net.

53 min...Lady Lynx Kinley McNicholl GOAL...McNicholl runs down left
and gets ball back from sliding defender at 18 yards and keeps rushing
and takes 8 yard shot from extreme left that goes in off inside
of right post.

60 min...Gryphons Melissa Bigg GOAL...LG Lauren Cantin takes cornerkick
from left that has Bigg in middle head 6 yarder into right side of net.

Final Score:....Toronto Lady Lynx......4......London Gryphons.....2....

Attendance was about 50 on this extremely hot and humid day with a bright
sun in the south. There were no kids watching from summer camps like in
past years but most were family members of the players.

Although the score appears close, the Lady Lynx had most of the ball
possession and there was not a real threat at the end of the game
that the Gryphons would tie.

Best non-scoring chances were at 24 minutes when TLL Kinley McNicholl
took a 12 yard cross from the left through the box and TLL Kodee
Williams fred an 8 yard shot wide right of the open net. 30 minutes had
TLL Alyscha Mottershead take a 30 yard freekick into the box from the right
and had the ball knocked around in the 6 yard box and TLL Nicole Waters
take a 5 yard shot that deflected offr the prone goalie and deflect
for a cornerkick. 34 minutes and McNicholl on a break down the middle
had a 20 yard shot saved by the sliding goalie at 8 yards. 73 minutes
had TLL Shanoska Young beat a defender on the left and cross from 12 yards
that had McNicholl blast a 12 yard shot that the goalie batted away.

Lady Lynx record improves to 6-3-1 and second place at the moment although
they've played more games than their pursuers. Gryphons record falls
to 0-8-2. They are in last place after losing to preannual doormats
Rochester Ravens on the weekend.

I asked Lady Lynx head coach Danny Stewart about the playoff format.
There are seven teams in the Central Conference. Ottawa Fury are hosting
the final four tournament this year so they get a bye. One other spot
in the Central Conference is available besides one spot each for the best
Eastern and Western Conference teams. Four Central Conference teams will
play down for that one spot. Toronto, Laval, Quebec City, and Hamilton
have qualified with still two weekends left in the season. The best
Central team will host a playdown tournament July 21st and 22nd with
a semi-finals on Saturday and the final on Sunday. All but Hamilton can
still earn enough points to be the host. Otherwise this is the last home
game of the season for the Lady Lynx with two games to play to finish
the regular season.

The benches of both teams were thin on a hot day when each team
would like to play maximum substitutes. Stewart counted down six Lady Lynx
players that are away at a Canadian U-20 national team training camp
in Montreal this week. Goalie Sabrina D'Angelo, defenders Jade Kovacevic,
Rachel Melhado, and Shelina Zadorsky, and midfielder Adriana Leon,
and forward Cloe Lacasse are there. That's six of the 24 players
at the camp playing for Toronto! 20 players will make the cut then there
will be some exhibition games in Europe and then over to Japan for
the Women's Under 20 World Cup between August 19th to September 8th.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca