The McMaster Marauders women's soccer team will welcome the Rams to Ron Joyce Stadium on Sunday in their final game of the regular season, taking place at 1 pm.
 
McMaster visited the fourth place Rams on Thursday evening and came away with a tie.
 
The 0-0 game began with McMaster's defence on high alert, but Marauder's goaltender Jayashree Pathak did what she does best and shut down the Rams seven times in the first half. The Marauders had a few chances themselves to put the ball away in the first 40 minutes, but they couldn't sneak it past the Rams goalie, Elisa Lapadula.
 
Ignacia Jimenez continued the pressure on Lapadula, firing four shots towards the net throughout the game, the most for McMaster. Rams defenceman Skyler Sheehan-Alleyene returned the favour, blasting seven towards McMaster's end, but nothing was able to go in the Marauder's net.
 
Played with tactic and passion, the scoreless game became intense and, in the 90^th minute, McMaster's Amy Jenkins was given a yellow card.
 
While a win would have awarded McMaster with three points in the standings, their persistent play still got them a tie and one additional point overall. With one point added to their now total 16, the Marauders are two ahead of the third place Toronto Varsity Blues.
 
McMaster currently sits in second place in the OUA Central Division with a record of 5-2-2.
 
The top two teams from each division, plus two wildcard teams, will qualify for the playoffs. Therefore, a win in this weekend's game against the Rams could secure McMaster a place in the postseason, depending on how Toronto fares against Nipissing in their final two games.
 
Details:
McMaster Marauders vs. Rams
Location: Ron Joyce Stadium
Date: Sunday Oct. 31 @ 1pm
 
McMaster
Record: 5-2-2
Streak: Tied one
Standings: Second OUA Central Division
 
Rams
Record: 4-3-2
Streak: Tied one
Standings: Fourth OUA Central Division
 
History:
 
The only time that the Marauders have faced the Rams so far this season was in Thursday night's tied game.
 
McMaster hasn't had frequent meetings with the Rams throughout the team's history, as they were in different divisions prior to the league reorganization in 2021 due to COVID-19. Previous to this season, the last time that the Marauders played the Rams was in 2017 in a pre-season game. The Rams came away with a close 2-1 win.
 
Players to Watch:
 
McMaster
 
Jayashree Pathak: The fifth-year goalie has been on fire this season with 40 saves and a .816 save percentage. She has recorded five wins, three of which have been shutouts.
 
Ignacia Jimenez: The midfielder has one goal and one assist in the season so far, but her performance against the Rams on Thursday night was impeccable. With the most shots on net for her team, she kept pressure on the Rams and could potentially put away another goal on Sunday.
 
Rams
 
Keira Kent: The defender is the Rams top goal-scorer with three this season. Kent has a total of 15 shots, the most for her team, eight of which have been on goal.
 
Elisa Lapadula: The Rams starting goaltender has made an incredible 50 stops this season and has a save percentage of .833.