By Larry Read - TRU Athletics

WolfPack women’s soccer ends season with setback yet season success

Oct 22, 2017 | 4:12 PM

KAMLOOPS — The season has come to a close for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women’s soccer team. The Pack were officially eliminated from the Canada West playoff hunt as they were blanked 2-0 by the MacEwan University Griffins on Sunday (Oct 22).

The match was played at McArthur Island field #2. 

The Pack finished with a record of 3-9-2 good enough for seventh place in the Pacific Division.  MacEwan wound up second in the division with a 8-5-1 record.

Despite the loss, the WolfPack showed a lot of improvement during the season.

SYNOPSIS

Boogie The Bridge

Boogie The Bridge Event Information

16h ago

Two and Out

PETERS: The Loop's eviction will show us what happens when a bandage is ripped off a gaping wound

13h ago

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: 'Fairness' is not a word I would use to describe the federal budget

20h ago

TRU gave up an own goal off a free kick in the first half (credited to MacEwan’s Jamie Erikson).  The ball deflected off the WolfPack’s Cassie Morris (2nd year, defender, Kamloops, BC) and into the net. 

The Griffins added a second goal from Meghan Oram in the 54 th minute.   Emily Burns notched her seventh shutout of the year.

Dannielle Robertson (1st year, Courtenay, BC) faced 22 shots in this contest and 99 on the season: the most in Canada West.

KEY STATS:

Goal scoring:

1.       6:43-MacEwan: Jamie Erickson-took free kick. Deflected off WolfPack defender Cassie Morris and into the net.  Erickson’s first goal of the year.  MacEwan 1  TRU 0

2.      54:13-MacEwan: Meghan Oram-down the right side, took pass from Salma Kamel and blasted a long shot from the top of the 18 which went top right hand side on TRU keeper Dannielle Robertson.  Oram’s second of the year.  MacEwan 2  TRU 0

Shots:    MacEwan: 8-14:22    TRU:   3-3:6       Corners:   MacEwan: 2-2:4      TRU:3-1:4

Saves:   TRU:2-5:7   MacEwan:  0-1:1        Keepers:   TRU:   Dannielle Robertson (1st year, Courtenay, BC)        MacEwan: Emily Burns

RECORDS:

MacEwan:    8-5-1                TRU: 3-9-2

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Kelly Shantz (2nd season): 

“It was our best game of the year. We had some really good moments in the second half of the year but in terms of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to play, who we wanted to move around, getting into the attack and playing defense: as a unit this was our best day. The result doesn’t recognize that. Sad  that own goal off Cassie. She would like to take that back but she was trying to make the hard play. Sometimes bad things happen. The second goal wasn’t a breakdown or anything, those things happen. We just couldn’t generate any offense.  I turned to the other coaches with about a half hour left and said that I was enjoying watching the soccer so much. That talks about how much this team has come and how proud I am of them.”

On Team’s improvement over the course of the year: “When you have 15 freshmen on the roster and a six or seven second players you hope for growth. I am a little astounded at some points. These last couple of games seeing things connect together as far as they have come. It has been less than 90 days since we started training camp. That many people to actually have to learn how each other plays, how their voices sound, their nuances—they have come further than I thought. It would have been nice to be rewarded with a playoff spot. But that is for another day. I didn’t think we were the better team on the day. I don’t think we were robbed of anything. We have to be happy with our growth and plan for next year.”

TRU defender Christine Fergin (4th year, Waterloo, ON)

“It would have been nice to win today and move onto the playoffs if we had a chance. The girls gave it all they had today. It has been unreal how this team has matured in 90 days. When we first played MacEwan in the first week of the season they beat us 7-2 and outplayed us. Now here we are. It should have been only 1-0  with the own goal.  That just shows how much we have grown. I thought we outplayed them in both halves I thought.”

MacEwan head coach Dean Cordeiro ( 5th season):

“It was a full team effort today. We were able to get 17 bodies into the match which is a good thing. We needed to respond from yesterday(1-0 loss at UBCO). We are happy with our efforts today. We played a full 90 minutes. We came out strong and got an early goal. I think that set the stage on what we wanted to accomplish today.  There wasn’t much in terms of jockeying for a playoff spot. We were locked into the spot we are in. Still you want to be going into the playoffs on a high and trending upward. Happy with the teams effort.

Is the team where he wants it to be going into the postseason? “Absolutely. We got a lot of belief in this group. We have done a lot of great things this year. It is a tough league. There is a lot of parity across the table in this league on any given day. You can’t take anything for granted. Our focus will be that the regular season is over.  Doesn’t matter what your record was (we were happy with ours though) now everyone is 0-0-0.You win and you progress. If you don’t your season is done. There is much more at stake. This group came one game away from going to nationals last year. We have nine of those starters back. I think those experience—it’s a wealth of knowledge that we hope to tap into down the stretch.”

UP NEXT:

The WolfPack  will not advance to post season play.  MacEwan will be in Edmonton for  the first round of the playoffs, which are hosted by the University of Alberta.

The WolfPack men are hosting the 2017 USport Men’s Soccer Nationals November 9-12th. Tickets on sale at all TRU home matches or on line .

OF NOTE:

This match was the final one for Fergin who is graduating from her Tourism program this Spring.  The WolfPack could return their entire roster next season.