The Guelph Gryphons women's soccer team started their 2013 regular season off strong, beating the McMaster Marauders with a final score of 2-0 this afternoon at the Gryphon Soccer complex.
 
The Gryphons dominated the start of the game, outrunning McMaster on a variety of different plays. The game became very physical quickly with McMaster earning a yellow card for a delayed hit. Despite the physicality of the McMaster squad, Guelph was able to pull ahead early on in the game, when Courtney Whiteside scored a goal in the 14th minute of the game. Erica Bain sent a beautiful ball to Whiteside inside the 18 yard box, who then beat her defender and sent the ball right past McMaster's goalie.
 
The Gryphons would come close again in the first half, with the ball finding the net on a shot from Jennifer Dunn. Instead the play was called offside and would not count as another point for Guelph. In the first half Guelph tallied many more opportunities with shots and free kicks but they were unable to utilize any of them.  
 
The second half started out more slowly, as the Gryphons slowed down the play and allowed more time for passing and opening up the field. McMaster appeared more determined to get some points on the board, but instead the game picked up for the Gryphons when Alexandra Harriss scored another goal for the Gryphons, bringing the score to 2-0 in the 86th minute. Gryphon goalie Alexandra King made some key saves throughout the second half to keep Guelph in the lead. Overall, the Marauders had 10 shots on goal, none of which were successful thanks to stellar goaltending from King. 
 
The Gryphons play the UOIT Ridgebacks Wednesday, September 4th in Oshawa at 8:00 p.m.