Women's Soccer: Marauders Concede Late to Split Points in 2-2 Draw with Hawks

Maila Carboni scored her second goal in as many days for the Marauders.

Box Score Dangerous on the offensive end, the Marauders were once again denied the full three points at home Sunday through defensive letdowns.

McMaster posted an identical score to that of their season opener a day earlier, battling the Laurier Golden Hawks to a 2-2 draw at Ron Joyce Stadium.

Maila Carboni scored her second goal in as many days, while team captain Cassidy Davis also found the back of the net for the Marauders in the draw.

Laurier overturned a 1-0 deficit at the halftime break, scoring twice in the second 45 through Nicole Lyon and Mackenzie D'Andrade to salvage a road point.

The first chance of the afternoon fell to the visitors, with Nicole Lyon gathering the ball at the edge of the McMaster box and scooping a dangerous drive just over the bar in the fifth minute.

Beginning to make their speed felt through the midfield, the Marauders saw their work yield its first real opportunity at goal when Ally Riganelli was sprung down the right wing, and fired a low shot that forced a save from Laurier's Ashley Almeida in the 10th minute.

A day removed from scoring in her team's season opener, Carboni enjoyed her first look at goal in the 23rd minute, latching onto a well-struck pass from Claudia Continenza and firing low, with Almeida once again equal to the task.

Six minutes later, Carboni would find her breakthrough, with Jade Smith squaring the ball to the oncoming Steph Roberts, who played Carboni through the middle and watched as the forward skipped past Almeida and slotted into the gaping net in the 29th minute.

The duo of Roberts and Smith nearly constructed a second goal just moments later, but Roberts' final ball was just too heavy for Smith to meet.

Carboni was thoroughly terrorizing the Laurier back line as the half wore on, and threatened to double her goal tally, and the Marauders lead, when she broke through the right wing yet again and forced another save from the busy Almeida.

Dominant in possession in the first 45 minutes, the Marauders carried a 1-0 lead into the break.

Laurier found the equalizer 11 minutes after the restart, as Lyon was hauled down in the box to bring up a spot kick, and dutifully stepped up to convert it past McMaster keeper Deanna Persico in the 56th.

But, just five minutes later, the Hawks found themselves on the opposite side of a penalty decision, as the Marauders retook the lead.

Riganelli managed to latch onto a deep cross at the far post, and was muscled to the ground to bring up the penalty, which captain Davis promptly dispatched past Almeida to restore Mac's lead at 2-1 in the 61st minute.

The game slowed in the later stages, and victory looked likely for the Marauders, before a late defensive lapse proved costly.

Hawks midfielder Mackenzie D'Andrade carried the ball into the box and shrugged off a pair of would-be tacklers, turning and firing a rising shot that tipped off of the outstretched hands of Persico and into the Marauder net, levelling the match at 2 in the 86th minute.

NEXT UP: The Marauders head out on the road for a match in London against the Western Mustangs on Saturday, September 2.

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