Langley, BC - For the second straight year, the UBC Thunderbirds quest for a Canada West title ends in a shootout. Friday evening, UBC lost 1-0 to Victoria on penalty kicks and as a result the Vikes advance to the gold medal game Saturday versus Trinity Western, while UBC will face the University of Regina in the bronze medal game.
After a scoreless opening half, things got interesting in the second half as
Alisha Penev was given a yellow card inside the penalty area, resulting in a Victoria penalty kick in the 69th minute.
Alyssa Williamson though denied Jana Yates to keep it 0-0. That is how things would stand after regulation time.
To overtime it went and once again Williamson was the difference maker, stopping Lindsey Hoetzel on a breakaway in the 117th minute to extend the game and send it to penalty kics.
After eight rounds of neither team missing, both UBC and Victoria would come up empty in the ninth round. In the tenth round, UBC's
Taryn Lim was stopped by Stephanie Parker and Bijon Leavins beat Williamson to give the Vikes a 1-0 victory.
The Thunderbirds lost 1-0 to Alberta on penalty kicks in the semi-final last year. They would go on to defeat Victoria in the bronze medal game.
Victoria will face Trinity Western in tomorrow's final, but because the Vikes are the host team for the 2012 CIS Nationals, the Spartans have officially secured a berth in the championships.
The Thunderbirds will square off against the University of Regina in the bronze medal game at 3:00 PM at Trinity Western University.
