Image Credit: TRU Athletics/Andrew Snucins

By Adam Donnelly

CANADA WEST QUARTER FINALS

After historic win over UVic, WolfPack women’s soccer isn’t ready for this season to end

Oct 28, 2022 | 4:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — Last Saturday, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women’s soccer team continued its historic season with a penalty-shootout win over the UVic Vikes in the Canada West play-in game.

“For all of us to actually experience that and experience it together, it meant the world. It meant everything,” Raiya Rumo, WolfPack second-year defender explains. “It was such a memorable moment that none of us will ever forget, and we’re so proud of each other.”

That win earned TRU a berth in the quarterfinal round, the best result for any WolfPack women’s soccer team since they joined USports back in 2015. Head Coach Mark Pennington hopes his club can carry over some momentum from that win over Victoria.

“The hope is all of it,” Pennington tells CFJC Sports. “The other piece that’s probably worth keeping an eye on is that there’s no emotional hangover from it. Sometimes you can get so high it’s a little bit hard to get up for the next one, but we’re one game away from the final four. I don’t think the players are going to need any motivation to go into this game. I think it’s just going to be about trying to keep it on the level, and not get too excited.”

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The WolfPack beat Mount Royal 2–0 on the road back in September. However, the WolfPack knows firsthand that previous results don’t mean anything once you’re in the thick of a playoff game.

“We did beat them in the regular season, but that really means nothing,” Rumo says. “You never know what to expect and you never know how teams have evolved since the last time you played them. We’re not coming in with our heads held too high. We just going to play our game, and not even worry about how they’ve improved.”

“We’d lost to UVic in the season, then came back and beat them in playoffs,” Pennington says. “Form in past results go out the window. We’ll just go out and focus on being the best we can on the day and hope that we can do the job.”

TRU was without team captain Camryn Curts against UVic, as she’s nursing an injury. First-year defender Alexis Virgo was out as well, serving a suspension for a red card she picked up against Calgary. Virgo will be back against the Cougars on Saturday while Curts will likely be a game-time decision for Pennington.

“We were having a bit of a moan about how we were missing some bodies, but the reality is if you’re a player that’s played at the utmost of your ability and intensity for the season, you’re carrying something,” Pennington says. “Everybody is sore, everybody is tired. It’s just the nature of the best.”

Rumo realizes the magnitude of the moment she and her teammates face. She expects the team to show up and give the Cougars everything they can handle come game time.

“We might as well just put everything we have out there for 90 minutes – or more if it goes into overtime,” Rumo says. “I think we just want to do it for each other, do it for Mark, and just for ourselves, really. Just put everything we can on the line – everything we’ve worked on this. Really just show our potential.”

Game time is Saturday at 12:00 noon PST.