Aug 21, 2012- 3:10 PM
Such is life with the Greater Sudbury Soccer Club (GSSC) Impact U-14 Girls, battling to avoid relegation in the CGSL Level 3 ranks.
The task will not be easy. The Kicks have distanced themselves from the pack, sporting a record of 7-1-1 and opening up a six-point lead atop league standings and still holding two games in hand over the five closest teams pursuing them.
After that, it's about as even as they come. Only three points separate the next five teams, with each of the squads, including Sudbury, having just three games remaining.
After picking up a huge 1-0 win over SC Toronto last week on the road, the Impact returned home to a rainy afternoon at the James Jerome turf field, playing to a scoreless draw with Ajax FC Red on Saturday.
Sudbury keeper Josée Scott was sensational, especially in the opening half as her team attempted in vain to get on track.
"We just needed to wake up," Impact head coach Jon Hussak said. "Once we woke up, the chances started coming. The main thing when you start so slowly is that you don't leave yourself a whole lot of time to do anything."
Still, the locals squandered a pair of glorious scoring opportunities over the final 15 minutes or so, with the Ajax keeper also doing her best to match Scott at the other end of the pitch, getting her hand on a shot that seem destined to slip in just below the crossbar.
"It's a point, but three would have been awesome," Hussak said.
That said, a tie game is hardly startling within this loop. About one in every three games (12 of 41) have finished deadlocked, as teams attempt to avoid falling into seventh or eighth, the two slots that would see them bumped down to CGSL Level 4 Premier for the summer of 2013.
"At least (Ajax) doesn't gain anything on us," Hussak said. "We still have an opportunity next weekend to make up a few more points and get into that safe zone."
With a record of 3-4-4 (13 pts), Sudbury will welcome the North York Cosmos (4-3-4 for 16 pts) and Newmarket (2-5-2 for 8 pts) to town, with one rescheduled game against the first place Kicks still to be accommodated.
Game times for next weekend are set for 4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday at the James Jerome Sports Complex.
