Metz leads SAIT past Vikings
CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 13, 2019) - The SAIT Trojans women's soccer team is thankful for Jade Metz.
The first-year player continued her torrid season, as she scored twice to lead her Trojans to a 3-1 victory over the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) action played on Thanksgiving Sunday at SAIT's Cohos Commons Field.
"For a rookie to be fearless and score the way she has, has been a treat to watch," said Trojans head coach John Talerico. "It's a tough position to play, but she seems to be in a groove which is great to see."
The win moves SAIT to 4-3-2 on the season, and avenges a loss to the Vikings earlier in the season. Augustana falls to 5-5.
Aside from that, it keeps SAIT's playoff hopes alive, as they now sit one point out of third place.
"We've been talking about what we need to do down the stretch and how we need to play beastmode soccer as the girls are calling it," added Talerico. "We don't have a lot of bench to utilize, so a lot of our team is playing 90 minutes a game putting everything on the line. They're stepping up right now."
In the first half, Augustana started the scoring off a corner kick when there was a scramble in front of the net. After a couple of chances, the Vikings finally found the back of the net when Abby Gisi got a foot on the ball.
SAIT received the equalizer 16 minutes later when Metz (1st year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration) scored her ninth of the season after she split the Vikings defence and then calmly lifted the ball into the top right corner of the net.
The Trojans added to their lead minutes into the second half when Kenzie Georgsen (1st year, Chestermere, Alta., Architectural Technologies) fired one into the net for her fifth of the campaign.
Metz added her second of the game later in the half, finishing off a beautiful passing play from Jaime McPherson (2nd year, Fort St John, BC, Medical Radiologic Technology) with a header that sneaked inside the post to go up 3-1.
The goal gave Metz 10 on the season, with all of them coming in games where she has scored twice.
"That's becoming a joke amongst us coaches, that when she scores once, we know another one is coming," laughed Talerico.
The road doesn't get any easier for the Trojans, as they will play three games within five days this coming week.
They'll start off on Wednesday when they host Red Deer College in a makeup game due to one postponed weeks ago due to snow. That game is set for 3:30pm.
Two days later, they will welcome Ambrose University in a Friday afternoon contest beginning at 2pm.
They'll finish their regular season off with yet another makeup game, this one on Sunday, Oct. 20 at noon against the host Olds College Broncos in Lacombe, Alta.
"We've played so much lately, we won't need to work on our fitness," Talerico joked. "We will concentrate on team shape when it comes to practices this week. We have three games in five nights, and we have to win them if we want a shot at the post-season. We all know that."