Ryan Rocastle
Kate Marquis scored in her final game for Kingston women’s football team, but it was not enough to stop Brunel winning 5-1.
The defeat means the Cougars three-game winning run comes to an end and they also have to say goodbye to central midfielder Marquis, who has finished her term at Kingston and goes back to America.
Marquis said: “I’ve had a great time playing here. We have really kicked on in the last few matches and I’m definitely going to miss it.”
Bad start
Kingston got off to the worst start possible conceding the first goal within 60 seconds of the kickoff.
The ball was lost cheaply in the midfield and the Brunel striker’s shot crawled underneath keeper Barbara Tommasi.
This prompted a quick reaction and Kingston captain Flo Amess nearly equalised with a decent strike which went just wide of the post.
Masterly Marquis
Kingston started passing the ball well and deserved their equaliser when Charmaine True dispossessed her oppenent in midfield and played it through to Marquis, who rifled it into the bottom corner.
The visitors looked shocked after convincingly winning every game this season and having previously beaten Kingston 11-1.
The rest of the half was pretty even, but in the last five minutes Brunel put together a quality passing move which was finished off nicely by their forward to make the score 2-1 just before the break.
Two halves
Kingston did not learned their lesson from the first half and conceded straight from the restart after a mix up in defence.
Amess went off feeling ill and Marquis’s goodbye game also ended early as she hobbled off with a leg injury.
Brunel comfortably added another two goals before the final whistle.
Barbara Tommasi made a string of excellent saves to keep the score down.
No shame
Amess said: “Socially we’ve come together and that’s made us stronger on the pitch. We’ve been beaten by the best team in the division — there’s no shame in that.”
Brunel captain Steph Foguetee recognised Kingston gave them a good game and said: “It was a tough match and maybe we didn’t expect it, so have to give them credit for that.”
The two teams may have to meet again as they are potential opponents in a cup game to be played later in the season.
Kingston play the University of Brighton women’s firsts next week.