Late October and early November can only mean one thing: the Trinity Western Spartans women’s soccer team will compete at the Canada West final four championships.
The Spartans booked their thanks to a 3-1 quarter-final victory over the UBC Thunderbirds on Oct. 24 at TWU’s Rogers Field to earn their 11th straight trip to the final four.
And as the top seed in Canada West, the Spartans will host the championships this weekend (Oct. 31/Nov. 1), the third time in the past four years they have done so.
The Spartans (10-1-1 in the regular season) will play the Saskatchewan Huskies (7-2-3) in one semifinal while the other pits the Fraser Valley (UFV) Cascades (7-2-3) against the Alberta Pandas (7-1-4).
The winners will play for Canada West gold on Saturday night and both will qualify for the CIS national championships being hosted by Laval University in Quebec City.
The Spartans controlled play throughout the contest and, up until the final 10 minutes of the game, UBC rarely threatened the TWU net. The T-Birds put the Spartans under pressure late, but were unable to get a shot on net.
“It was a crazy ending, but I’m incredibly pleased with our team,” said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh. “UBC didn’t really come out of their shell until the last 10 minutes. I’m a little bit surprised that they did that because they have some very potent offensive weapons. But credit to them. They made it a game towards the end and it got a little nervy.
“I was really happy with the way we played for the first 65 minutes and it was crucial to get the third goal.”
Against UBC, Krista Gommeringer wasted little time in getting the Spartans on the board, scoring in the second minute. She took a pass from Kristen Santema, cut in and whipped a shot to the bottom right corner.
UBC equalized in the 19th minute when Madison Guy — a 2012 graduate of Brookswood Secondary — found a loose ball in the box from five yards out and buried her opportunity amidst a scramble in front of the TWU goal.
The tie game was short-lived, however, as three minutes later, Gommeringer continued her dominating presence throughout the game, taking a pass from Jenna Di Nunzio and sending a quick touch across to Stephanie Chin, who slammed the ball home.
Gommeringer had a hand in the third goal as well in the 51st minute, racing through the middle and charging her way into the box before being knocked down to earn the penalty kick.
Alessandra Oliverio slotted the penalty kick home.
“Krista was superb tonight,” Roxburgh said. “We saw a great ball from Kristen in to Krista on that first goal to settle us down.
“We got knocked back with a sloppy giveaway and a poor corporate defensive goal. But then to get right back in, I can’t say enough about our team tonight.”
UBC didn’t press until the very late stages and even then, didn’t manage a single shot on target in the second half. Both Nicole Sydor and Jasmin Dhanda had quality opportunities but both of their attempts – Sydor in the 86th minute and Dhanda in second half stoppage time – went wide right.
The only negative from the game was the fact Gommeringer picked up a pair of yellow cards, and her subsequent red card means she will miss the Canada West semifinal game.