The Toronto Varsity Blues women's soccer team dropped Saturday's (Sept. 19) contest 1-0 to the visiting Queens Gaels.

Both teams looked to feel their opponents out in the early going and it was the Varsity Blues who had the first scoring opportunity in the 20th minute. Midfielder Chelsey Cheung (Stouffville, Ont.) benefitted from an excellent Toronto cross, setting her up with an open shot at the Gaels net but the ball would sail just high over the crossbar.

Teammate Brenda Murillo (Richmond, B.C.) fought for a second scoring chance in the 32nd minute when a through ball slipped by the Queen's defence. As Murillo charged, Queen's goalkeeper Madison Tyrell made the excellent choice to attack just beating Murillo to the ball to force it out of play.

The Gaels opened the scoring just one minute later when Jessie de Boer capitalized on a ricochet off the U of T crossbar. The ball found its way directly to de Boer's foot as she slotted it in the net for what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.

Despite giving up the single goal, Varsity Blues goalkeeper Sara Petrucci (Bolton, Ont.) delivered another all-star performance making five saves on the day with all coming with a high degree of difficulty.

The Varsity Blues will have to rebound quickly as they welcome the RMC Paladins to Varsity Centre tomorrow (Sunday, September 20) afternoon with opening kickoff set for 1 p.m.

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