Image Credit: TRU WolfPack Athletics

By Adam Donnelly

CANADA WEST FINAL FOUR

TRU WolfPack women’s soccer prepares for Final Four after unlikely comeback win in Calgary

Oct 31, 2022 | 5:14 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s October 31, and the TRU WolfPack Women’s soccer team has at least one more weekend to prepare for.

Back in August, the women’s soccer coaches of Canada West picked this team to finish 11th of 16. Today, they’re one of four teams left standing in the conference, with three spots at the National Championships on the line this coming weekend.

“We were just talking about that coaches poll, earlier today. I think they had us 11th, and here we are going into Final Four — the Canada West finals,” WolfPack Captain Camryn Curts says. “It’s pretty surreal. I’m really just soaking it all in, as this could potentially be my last weekend, my last couple of games. Hopefully not.”

The ‘Pack earned a spot in the quarterfinals against MRU with a penalty-shootout win over UVic at home on Oct. 22. On Saturday, they played a game that any who watched it has called insane.

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After the bus to the game showed up late, throwing off the WolfPack’s pregame routine, TRU allowed a pair of goals in the first half and trailed 2-0.

“We were a little bit sluggish at the start, which ended up costing us. Whether we could have done anything about it or not, they scored two good goals,” Head Coach Mark Pennington explains. “We had a good chat at halftime about that wasn’t us, and in the second half, they put it right. They got back into the game at two-two.”

Captain Curts got the WolfPack on the board in the 60th minute. Then Hawan Abdissa evened the score for TRU in the 71st. The MRU Cougars had a chance to take the lead with a penalty kick in the 85th minute, but keeper Marissa Young made the stop.

However, the Cougars scored in the 89th, giving them a 3-2 lead. While that might have been the death blow for other teams, there’s no quit in the WolfPack team.

Alexis Virgo got the equalizer with just seconds left to play, on a long ball into the area that she just directed into the MRU goal. The captain was confident the ‘Pack would reply.

“I didn’t even doubt for a minute that we weren’t going to get another one,” Curts says. “I just knew in my mind that we were winning that game. I wasn’t too concerned, I knew we’d push for that one in extra time.”

After 30 minutes of extra time, it was another penalty shootout for the ‘Pack. After going through the same scenario a week earlier, Pennington was worried MRU might know too much.

“Guaranteed their coaching staff, and even their players had sat and watched our shootout from the week before,” Pennington says. “I could see their coach pointing to the side of the goal where he believed the players were going. I was just hoping our girls had a different plan.”

MRU’s plan didn’t take into account Marissa Young. The TRU keeper made some crucial saves during the shootout and even scored to keep her team alive. After MRU hit a post in the eighth round of penalty kicks, Allie Shiyuk stepped up to the spot with the game on her boot.

“I was just trying to stay as calm and composed as possible,” Shiyuk says. “We’ve been practicing penalties in training for the past two weeks now. Mark always tells us, ‘Pick a spot. Don’t change your mind, just follow through with a spot,’ and that’s what I did.”

TRU heads to Vancouver on Friday where they’ll take on the Trinity Western Spartans in one of the Canada West semi-final matches. With three spots up for grabs in the U Sports Nationals, Coach Pennington knows if his team can show up with heart and desire like they have to get to this point, they’ll give themselves a chance.

‘I’m just excited about the weekend. We’re in the top four in the toughest conference in the country,” Pennington says. “We’ll take it.”