It was a perfect day for some playoff soccer in Saskatoon! A chilly and snowy afternoon in the bridge city for a Canada West Quarter Final matchup between the UBC Okanagan Heat and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. UBCO came into the afternoon with a record of 8-4-2 sitting in third place in the Pacific Division, with the Huskies sitting in second place in the Prairie Division with a 10-3-1 record. The winner of this afternoon’s matchup will advance into the Canada West Final Four next weekend.
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Both teams started out the game slow with no pressure on either side and each team getting used to the brisk temperatures, but it didn’t take long for the Huskies to find their feet. Just before the 10-minute mark Alyssa D’Agnone had the first great chance finding the ball in front and just chipping it high over the net. It would result in a corner kick for the Huskies taken by Cheyenne Lehman that would be tracked down by goalie Talia Gagnon. Minutes later UBC Okanagan would have their first shot of the game coming from Abigail Taneda, but Huskies goalie Kalin Roberts would make the easy save.
Close to the 20-minute mark the Huskies would have another good chance from Caitlin Stove off a great feed in the corner, but Gagnon would come up strong again to keep the game at zeros. Just before the 30-minute, star Alyssa D’Agnone would receive a beautiful pass from Marie Kilcher and would blast one into the top left corner of the net, giving Saskatchewan a 1-0 lead.
Just before the end of the half, Huskies goalie Kalin Roberts would face her toughest shot of the day coming from Alyssa Roberts with Roberts diving across and getting her fingertips on the ball to direct it up and over the net, keeping the Huskies lead 1-0 to end the first half
The Huskies picked up right where they left off in the first half, starting off with another great scoring chance from Cheyenne Lehmann off another great pass from Marie Kilcher, but goalie Talia Gagnon just got enough of her finger on the ball to tip it up and off the crossbar. Alyssa D’Agnone would have yet another great chance to increase the Huskies lead, but her shot was just wide left of the net.
Marie Kilcher would take a turn at shooting the ball, adding on another great scoring chance from the Huskies with a shot wide right of the net that didn’t miss by much. Defensively, the Huskies did a tremendous job at forcing players to the outside and eventually out of bounds and not letting the Heat get a shot anywhere close to the net. Later on UBCO thought they were going to have an opportunity to generate at least a shot, but the play was whistled down due to an offside.
In the final minutes UBCO would continue at trying to generate something offensively, but the Huskies defense remained strong and making it difficult to find any seems. Alyssa D’Agnone would catch another long pass and drive up the left side for another quality scoring chance for the Huskies, but it would miss wide left grazing the side of the net. Stefanie Young would get a shot after a foul on the Huskies and would choose to fire it on net, but would be turned aside once again by goalie Kalin Roberts.
The Huskies would hold off UBCO until the very end to secure a 1-0 victory and a spot in the Canada West Final Four next weekend.
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Head Coach Jerson Barandica-Hamilton:
GAME STATS TEAM
SHOTS: UBCO 4-10 Saskatchewan
SHOTS ON GOAL: UBCO 4-4 Saskatchewan
SAVES: UBCO 3-4 Saskatchewan
CORNERS: UBCO 3-4 Saskatchewan
OFFSIDES: UBCO 2-1 Saskatchewan
FOULS: UBCO 7-8 Saskatchewan
GAME STATS PLAYERS
Alyssa D’Agnone (4 Shots, 1 Shot on Goal, 1 Goal)
Marie Kilcher (1 Shot, 1 Assist)
Caitlin Stove (2 Shots, 1 Shot on Goal)
Amou Madol (2 Shots, 1 Shot on Goal)
Cheyenne Lehmann (1 Shot, 1 Shot on Goal)
Kalin Roberts (4 Shots on Goal, 4 Saves)
NEXT GAME: CANADA WEST FINAL FOUR on Friday, November 3rd OR Sunday, November 5th. (Check back for updates!)
