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Durham Takes Over First With 1-0 Win Over North Miss

By League1 Ontario staff, 06/11/16, 3:00PM EDT

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Durham United FA women took over top spot in the women's table with a strong 1-0 win over North Mississauga. 

Geneva Winterink (32') grabbed her second of the season, volleying a rebound from a North Miss defender into the upper right corner.

It was the least that Durham deserved in a brilliant first half display full of slick passing combos, and fluid interchange and movement between the attackers.

Durham's front trio of Hollie Babut, Jamaica U20 striker Keona Simmons and Canada U20 striker Alexandria Lamontagne were always dangerous on and off the ball, while the midfield trio of Laura Gosse, Geneva Winterink and Taylor Potts were industrious and smart in distribution.

A new look of Guyana Women's National Team sibling duo Kayla Da Souza and Brianna Da Souza anchored at centre-back, while Madeline Iozza and Amanda Brown overlapped constantly from the flanks and knocked good balls in. 


Photo: Martin Bazyl


Kira Bertrand (Photo: Martin Bazyl)


Hollie Babut (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

Were it not for North Mississauga's hard work from central three of Cat Rogers, Kylee Bertrand and Lidia Bradau - Durham's excellent play would have surely yielded more goals. 

"We saw that their strength was through the midfield, so we wanted to change up our formation to make sure we could slow that pace down," explained Durham head coach, Ron Clarke.

The second half was a far more even however, as North Miss changed shape to neutralize the Durham threat and began to press much higher up the pitch. 

Kira Bertrand was the first to get a good look at the target, but her effort skewed wide. North Miss and Jamaica U20 forward Oshay Lawes began to switch wings with Jenny Wolever, while Rogers' driving runs through the middle began to find space. 


Emily Borgmann (Photo: Martin Bazyl)


Kylee Bertrand (Photo: Martin Bazyl)

North Miss' best chance of the game arrived mid-way through the half, as Kylee Bertrand rose to knock down a header on net at the back post. Borgmann, on the line, attempted to back flick the header into the net but Durham's GK Laura Dougall was alert to the danger and touched the ball wide off the outside of the post. 

"At the end of the first half we had a good talk in the change room because we saw they were overloading the wings so we decided to stop the overlap and shut down the middle, which we were very successful at," said Trevor Bertrand, assistant coach for North Mississauga.  

"It worked, but we just couldn't convert. We had a lot more of the ball in second half, and we pressed. Unfortunate, but I'm happy with the effort of the girls."

Substitutions piled in during the last half hour as players wilted from the effort, Sabrina McNeil for Durham injecting serious pace down the left flank in the latter stages. 

"We had some younger players, and a few missing players, so our younger ones came up and did very well tonight to give us some energy," said Clarke.