Women’s soccer | The Montreal Carabins’ “flight of geese”

They are undefeated this season. They tied the record number of points recorded in a Quebec Student Sport Network (RSEQ) calendar, with 40. And they are targeting the holy grail of university soccer in the country: the Gladys Bean Memorial Trophy, awarded to the team. champion at the Canadian U Sports level.

The Carabins of the University of Montreal believe in it.

“This is our ultimate goal,” explains goalkeeper Catherine Langelier, during training at CEPSUM on a cold November afternoon. We really play for those experiences. ”

As she talks, the balloons inflate next to her. The players warm up around.

“Once you touch it, you always want to be able to return there”, underlines in turn the defender Marie-Ève ​​Bernard O’Breham, who won this trophy in 2017.

But don’t openly talk about this ambition to head coach Kevin McConnell.

“Here, we are not talking about results, explains the technician in post since 2005. Here, we are talking about moving towards our potential. […] The results are really secondary. We seek at all times, regardless of the year, to be up to our abilities. ”

Either way, the Carabins have a much more immediate challenge. They face the Citadins de l’UQAM on Friday night in the semi-finals of the RSEQ championship. With a win, they would play the final the following Friday.

The players of the University of Montreal will be able to base themselves on an almost perfect season to start the match on the right foot: their 13 victories and 1 draw in 14 games are good for the first place of the circuit. Laval University (33 points) follows with the second position. McGill University (3^e, 24 points) and the Citadins de l’UQAM (4^e, 23 points) complete the portrait of the series.

But you have to look at the conceded goals column to partly understand the Carabins’ success. The team have only allowed five this season. It is half as much as Laval.

Marie-Ève ​​Bernard O’Breham, a veteran in her fifth and final college season, adds a dose of realism.

“At the end of the season, we conceded a few goals,” she admits. There are things to work on. […] But we were able to establish a style of play, a team that allows us to be excellent and consistent defensively. ”

“We do not look too much at the statistics, exposes the coach. We want to try to maximize our chances and limit the chances of our opponents, quite simply. ”

“A small family”

In 15 years, Kevin McConnell led the Carabins to seven RSEQ championships. They also won their first national title in 2017 under him. But the challenge is great in 2021: 10 of the 24 players are in their first year, the result of the season canceled in 2020.

It didn’t play on the camaraderie within the group, however. On the contrary.

“This year, we have a very united team,” says Bernard O’Breham. We were able to establish an environment where we can flourish. ”

Her teammates are singing and exchanging the ball next to them, just as she says these words.

“It’s a small family, a small bubble that we have developed. ”

None can attest to this as much as striker Maxyme Nobert.

“My start to the season was very difficult,” explains the one who is in her second year of eligibility. I think I was struggling with confidence. The fact that we’re really a tight-knit team really helped me. Every game the girls were behind me. They said to me: “Don’t let go, you know it’s going to come, you know what you’re capable of, keep going.” ”

“It’s easy after that. The balloons come by themselves because the girls have confidence. ”

And it unlocked. Nobert finished the season with eight goals and one assist, number one on his team and second in the league.

For Carabins game descriptor Freddy Mewoanou, the re-emergence of Maxyme Nobert is the story of the season.

“When you see his ball calls, when you see his placement, his ball protection, his ability to be clutched from the head, from the left, from the right, to multiply the shots, this is really what best illustrates this called shaping a raw gem. ”

Mewoanou is not a commentator for nothing. Let him illustrate his remarks again.

“With Kevin [McConnell], it is efficiency, he describes on the phone. I’ll compare him to a potter. He will receive the raw material, he will shape it and will polish each athlete, so that the athlete emerges transformed. In the end, the jewel emerges from the work of the artist, but also from a whole group that supports him behind. It gives you these athletes who are cut out for victory, these hyper-motivated athletes. ”

“For me, that’s the Carabins method. When you come home, there is this little clutch side, which aims to set the goal, to take effective action, when it is needed. ”

But there is something else that explains the success of the team, according to Freddy Mewoanou.

“I compare them if you want to a flight of geese. When they fly, when they go on migration, there are always leaders who are in the lead. As soon as they start to tire, there are others who take the lead. So that on a global level, you never feel that they are weakening. ”

“Each girl who shows up on the field is a machine,” the descriptor still expresses, who also teaches at the elementary level. They do not stop running until the referee has blown the final whistle. “

“A big mourning” after university

There is no professional women’s league in Canada yet. After the university circuit, the players must therefore either go into exile in the United States or Europe, or return to civilian life.

But since the Canadian women’s gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, there seems to be momentum in the country for the establishment of a professional women’s circuit.

“We find it a bit boring that there never was anything, laments Maxyme Nobert. It is a great grief to finish university and in addition to having to hang up your crampons. ”

But if there is a league, they’ll want to try it out, the forward adds.

“It’s difficult because there is a lot of talent in our league that is being lost, while on the men’s side, it has developed with the Canadian Premier League (CPL), adds Mégane Sauvé. They have an opportunity that we don’t have. ”

Same story for Marie-Ève ​​Bernard O’Breham.

“I hope that will happen, judges the defender. We’ve been ripe for this for a long time. It was developed in Europe, in the United States. In this regard, Canada is a bit behind. ”

The situation also worries Freddy Mewoanou, the first witness to the Carabins’ success.

“The Americans already have their recruiting method. The Canadian team is often through national programs. As much as they live their best years under the royal blue tunic, the harder is the fall when it all ends. “