Courtesy of U of A Sports Information
EDMONTON - The University of Fraser Valley Cascades earned their first Canada West championship, in any sport, in school history by claiming a 2-0 victory over the no. 10 UBC Thunderbirds at the Canada West women's soccer championship Sunday afternoon at Foote Field in Edmonton.
Junior midfielder Ellen Kuyer notched the game-winning goal and earned an assist on the goal by sophomore midfielder Chelsea Steffen to help propel the Cascades to the CIS championship, Nov. 11-14 at UPEI.
UBC, which has won 13 Canada West championships in school history, will also be heading to Charlottetown next weekend, searching for their sixth CIS title.
Fresh from yesterday's win over the No.4 Alberta Pandas, the T-Birds came out strong in the first half, but it was Fraser Valley who had the best chance as sophomore defender Danielle Schmidt rang a free kick shot off the crossbar in the 13th minute.
Entering the second half with the score still deadlocked at zero, the Cascades seized their opportunity in the 56th minute when Abbotsford, BC native Megan Webster crossed a free kick from the sideline into the middle where Kuyer headed the ball past UBC netminder
Meghan Best for her second goal of the weekend.
Eleven minutes later, Kuyer fired a shot on goal, which Best stopped and directed to Cascade rookie Danielle de Bruin, forcing the 'tender to dive across the goal line to make a miraculous save but also leave herself defenceless to the second rebound by Steffen, who roofed the ball for the insurance goal.
The Cascades then played a shut-down defence for the final 20 minutes, preventing the Thunderbirds a clear shot at the Fraser Valley goal, and celebrated their first-ever Canada West championship in their five-year history in the conference.
Both teams now head to the CIS championships this coming weekend in Charlottetown, PEI. Tournament action gets underway on Thursday.
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