Amelia Crawford leads UBC past Acadia 1-0 in Canadian university women’s soccer

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Second-year forward Amelia Crawford scored as the UBC Thunderbirds took a step toward repeating as Canadian university women’s soccer champions after a hard-fought 1-0 quarter-final victory over the host Acadia Axewomen on Thursday.

Crawford scored 23:31 into the first half with what would prove to be the game’s only goal. Shayla Chorney earned the assist.

Both ‘keepers, Marlee Maracle for UBC and Emma Connell for Acadia, had to be on their toes and they were, with Connell recording five saves and Maracle four.

With the win, UBC advances to a semifinal matchup with the Queen’s Gaels on Friday.

Fourth-year forward Tara Bartrum scored the game’s only goal 4:21 into the first half as Queen’s blanked St. F-X 1-0.

Earlier Thursday, Joelle Gosselin and Cynthia Turcotte each had two goals as the No. 2 seeded Laval Rouge et Or downed the No. 7 Saskatchewan Huskies 5-0 in quarter-final play.

Gosselin opened the scoring early in the opening half and the other four goals came in the second half.

Cynthia Turcotte scored her first of two goals 12 minutes after the break, Gosselin scored her second less than three minutes after and Turcotte found the net for the second time six minutes later. Marianne Franco-Barbeau’s goal with eight minutes left capped the scoring spree.

“We wanted to set the tempo and have the other team adjust to us and that’s what we did,” said Gosselin.

The Rouge et Or will play the No. 3 seeded UOIT Ridgebacks on Saturday. UOIT edged the No. 6 Trinity Western Spartans 1-0 in double overtime in the second quarter-final on Thursday.

Shynice Williams scored unassisted in the 105th minute of the match to give the Ridgebacks the victory.