Trojans advance to ACAC final
CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 27, 2018) - The SAIT Trojans women's soccer team last played for Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) gold in the fall of 2002, winning the school's lone title. Sixteen years later, they hope history will repeat itself.
The host Trojans advanced to the final of the 2018 ACAC Women's Soccer Championship by beating the Lethbridge College Kodiaks 3-0 Saturday morning at SAIT's Cohos Commons Field.
"Winning that title for ourselves and the school is really important to us," said Trojans veteran Mataya Blakney (5th year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration). "We'll take the rest of this day to talk about what we need to do in order to do that. We're excited."
The final goes Sunday at 2pm where the Trojans will meet the winner of Saturday's late game between the NAIT Ooks and the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder.
The win also clinches a berth for the Trojans at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Championship – hosted by Douglas College in B.C. – as the ACAC owns one of two wildcard berths at the tourney.
That's fine and good, but Trojans head coach John Talerico wants to go in as a champ, not a wildcard.
"We want that banner," he said. "We have a lot of seniors here who have been waiting a long time. Heck, we all have been waiting a long time. Winning the title is our goal."
SAIT started off the game controlling the play, and as a result, had numerous chances to score. However, they could not find the net.
"We had the confidence to say, 'You know what, it's alright. It will come,'" Talerico said. "And then it did."
It did in the form of a Rachelle LaBranche goal in the 38th minute when she was sent in through the middle and made no mistake to put her team up 1-0 at the half.
The Kodiaks' best chance of the half came on a ball mishandled by Trojans keeper Amy Offredi (3rd year, Calgary, Rehabilitation Therapy Assistant). The ball squirted loose, but Trojans rookie defender Sarah Lepine (1st year, Calgary, Academic Upgrading) made a great play to out hustle the charging Kodiaks players and clear the ball.
Following the break, the Trojans ramped up the pressure and hardly allowed any of the action on their side of the field.
Blakney made it 2-0 in the 67th minute, beating Klein on a penalty kick before teammate Deanna Kuan (3rd year, Edmonton, Alta., Business Administration) scored two minutes later to round out the scoring.
"We have to make sure we bring this excitement into the final tomorrow," said Blakney. "It's the most important game of our lives, so we need to be properly prepared."
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