Two times golden

Posted by admin on Nov 17, 2009 in Sports | 0 comments

The Spartan women captured their 2nd consecutive gold and 3rd in six years on Saturday.

At the CIS dinner on last Wednesday night, Trinity was handed a slap to the face. For a team that was number one in the country for eight weeks and the gold medal winner of the Canada West finals the weekend before, not one TWU player was named a 1st or 2nd team all-star. Although Spartan striker Alicia Tesan was awarded the Rookie of the Year, the snub was unbelievable.

Whether this was fuel for the Spartans in their march to their second straight national championship remains to be seen, but it couldn’t have hurt.

Their opening round game was simply a clinic. The Spartans faced a young and inexperienced UPEI team and controlled the possession for most of the game. The final score of 1-0 did not reflect the flow of the game, as even the Internet broadcast announcers could not help but notice the technical skill and overall stunning ability of every Trinity player on the pitch.

On Saturday afternoon, the women found themselves up against a stronger opponent in the Queen’s Golden Gaels, who boasted CIS player of the year, Renee MacLellan.

It was obvious that the Spartans were in for a challenge, from the first whistle the play was very tight and Queen’s continually tested the Spartan defence. It remained a deadlocked match until the 65th minute, when Queen’s capitalized on an opportunity in front of the Spartan goal.

As the minutes ticked past, it soon became apparent that the Spartans might not be heading to the gold medal game. Queen’s began to lock down every attack and even pulled a few forwards back for every Spartan rush. It appeared the game was all but over.

Then, in the 87th minute, Daniela Gerig received a pass out of nowhere from Rebecca Ferguson with a clear path to the net. She made no mistake and the Spartans were suddenly on the scoreboard and in the game. The game would then head into a penalty shootout where Spartan keeper Kristin Funk made the difference with a beautiful save to allow the Spartans to pull out on top.

The win pitted the Spartans in Sunday’s final against the Montreal Carabins.

As the game progressed, the two teams demonstrated they were very evenly matched in all areas as they exchanged momentum shifts and rushes up the pitch. Montreal was able to keep the Spartans from playing their possession game in the midfield while the Spartans were able to keep the Carabin strikers out of range for any decent shots on net.

Regulation and overtime would solve nothing, so once again the Spartans found themselves in a shootout, this time for the gold.

While the match showcased how deadlocked these two teams were, the shootout simply showcased the unbelievable skill of the Spartan keeper Kristin Funk. Even with some of the best players in the CIS shooting on her net, she made two incredible saves that would allow the Spartans to take the gold 4-2 in penalties.
After only joining the CIS in 2001, Trinity now has won the women’s soccer championship 3 times (2004, 2008, 2009) and with most of the players on the team still in their 1st or 2nd year, the word dynasty may soon become a reality.