MICHAEL KNIGHT

The women’s Huskies soccer team managed to capture its first ever Canada West medal, a bronze, during the conference playoffs on Nov. 1.

The Huskies beat the University of Alberta Pandas 2–0 during the Saturday bronze medal game. It was the first appearance in the final four competition for the women’s team since 1999 — when they were playing as host.

The Huskies started their weekend in Langley, B.C., facing off against home side the Trinity Western University Spartans, who finished first in the Pacific Division with a record of 10–1–1. The Huskies did well to hold off the high-powered Spartans during the first half of the game. While the Spartans had most of the possession and fired a barrage of shots on net, Huskies’ keeper Cara Santaga made three first half saves, including a nice diving save in the 20th minute.

The second half proved to be similar to the first with the Spartans applying a ton of pressure on the Huskies. The Spartans managed to break through in the 64th minute with a goal from Natalie Arnett. Finding a space behind the Huskies’ back line, Arnett deked around Santaga to score on the empty net.

After the goal, the Spartans changed their tactics to a slightly more defensive style in order to help preserve the lead and advance on. The Huskies took advantage of the change and went on the offensive. In the last six minutes of play, the Huskies amassed three shots and only allowed one against. However, the defence of the Spartans would prove to be too strong as the final whistle blew before the Huskies could score.

The Spartans defeated the Huskies 1–0, sending Saskatchewan to the bronze medal game on Nov. 1.

The opponent for the bronze medal game was Prairie Division rival, the Alberta Pandas. The two teams only met once during the regular season and played out to a scoreless draw and the Huskies finished the regular season just one point behind the Pandas.

Starting off evenly matched, the beginning of the game had the teams getting a feel for one another. The first half of the game saw end-to-end action with each team getting away six shots. The Huskies’ back four were strong in breaking up a few chances. Heading into the half, the game was tied 0–0.

In the second half, the Huskies worked hard to try and get their first goal of the playoffs. Again, the back line did remarkably well to stop the Pandas attack and turn the ball over for the offence. The Huskies’ strong play would be rewarded in the 59th minute when a Pandas defender had a poor pass back to the keeper and Jenelle Zapski stole the ball and scored to make it 1–0 for the Huskies. After the goal, the Huskies had no intentions of letting up as they continued the relentless pressure which amounted to the shots being 11–3 for the Huskies in the second half.

In the 67th minute, Erica Hindmarsh played a perfectly-weighted through ball ahead for Zapski who made no mistake on her shot and gave the Huskies a big 2–0 lead. The Huskies almost added to their lead in the 85th minute when Meagan Manson’s header just narrowly missed the net.

The 2–0 score held up and the Dogs claimed the bronze medal.

The playoff games in Langley marked the end of an impressive year for the Huskies. The season saw them finish second in the Canada West Prairie Division where they went on to the playoffs to win their first ever Canada West medal.

Outstanding play on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball highlighted the season. In all of Canada West, the Huskies were fourth in goals allowed and third in goals scored. Zapski lead Canada West in both goals and points. Herself and teammate Jennifer Miller were named to the Canada West Second Team All-Star squad.