Floor Ursem celebrates TRU's Canada West semi-final win over the Victoria Vikes on Nov. 5, 2026. (Image Credit: Canada West/Contributed)
By Victor Kaisar
Canada West Soccer

WolfPack women clinch first-ever berth at U SPORTS soccer nationals; to face UBC for Canada West gold

Nov 5, 2026 | 11:51 PM

VANCOUVER — Floor Ursem dove to her left to deny Alice Kopp of the Victoria Vikes in penalty kicks on an historic Thursday (Nov. 5) night at Thunderbird Stadium for the TRU WolfPack.

Ursem, the second-year goalkeeper who is program’s all-time leader in clean sheets, stopped the decisive penalty to help the WolfPack punch their ticket to U SPORTS Nationals for the very first time. TRU triumphed in the shootout 4-3 after the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 following extra time.

The result will also see the WolfPack play for their first-ever Canada West women’s soccer medal in Friday’s (Nov. 6) final against the powerhouse UBC Thunderbirds. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

“I have no idea what my emotions are right now, they’re all over the place,” WolfPack head coach Mark Pennington said after the match. “UVic made us work. They’re a good team. We’ve tied them twice this year and we always knew it was going to be a tough one. I’m just so proud of the group.”

The WolfPack went down 1-0 in the 21st minute after a header from Brianne McLeish put the Vikes on the scoresheet first. Hannah Saxon levelled things up in the 40th minute after her delicious free kick sailed over the hands of an outstretch Stefanie Mocnik in the Victoria net.

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The WolfPack had a chance to the take the lead with 10 minutes left, after Esi Lufo was brought down in the box. The Albanian forward, TRU’s all-time leader in goals and points, fired a low shot but Mocnik dove to her left to keep the score level.

Lufo made no mistake in the tie-breaker, as she converted the first penalty kick. McLeish followed suit to restore parity before Mocnik denied Allison Hill, who took the WolfPack’s second kick. Ruby Nicholas made no mistake to make it 2-1 Victoria.

After TRU’s Macyn Jolly and Makenna Ford and Victoria’s Adrianna Hilton all scored, Sydney Cassidy crashed her kick off the bar to leave it all tied up at three kicks apiece after four rounds. Sara Kuusimaki then put the WolfPack ahead before Ursem’s heroics sealed a famous victory.

“We only used a couple of subs today, we were short on our bench and missing a couple of key bodies, but every single player dug in and put in a shift today,” Pennington added.

“Big credit to Esi Lufo who missed a penalty in regulation and then had the leadership to take the first one in the shootout. She wanted that and it got us off on a good foot. Then Floor Ursem with the massive save. We’ve been practicing penalties and it paid off.”

The WolfPack ended a pair of UBC streaks in the span of eight days just last month. TRU snapped UBC’s run of 25-consecutive shutout wins on Oct. 9 at Hillside Stadium, and the ended a 44 game win streak on Oct. 16 at Thunderbirds Stadium.

The 2026 U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Championship is scheduled to run from Nov. 12 to Nov. 15 in Vancouver. TRU and hosts UBC will be joined by either Victoria or the Trinity Western Spartans, who meet at 1:00 p.m. Friday in the bronze medal match.

by Victor Kaisar

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