TRU WolfPack women’s soccer claims historic win in playoffs

For the first time in program history, the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's soccer team has won a playoff game.

The team took down the University of Victoria Vikes 2-1 on penalty kicks in front of a boisterous crowd inside Hillside Stadium last night, Oct. 22.

"My goal coming in here was to change this program into a destination program and we are moving in that direction so I couldn't be prouder of the girls," said WolfPack head coach Mark Pennington, in a press release issued by the WolfPack.

Ainsley Grether scored an 88-minute equalizer for the 'Pack while Caylah Lemon, Hawan Abdissa, Madeline Trozzo and Lydia Keating all scored on their penalty kicks. Marissa Young was heroic in the WolfPack net, making five saves in the game and also stopping a pair of attempts in the shootout.

Rheana Desjardins opened the scoring for Victoria with Trinity Kettyls earning an assist. Erin Jensen and Isabella Paccani scored in the shootout while Kayley Lidstone made seven saves during the run of play for the Vikes.

Not only was the win the first time TRU has won a playoff game, it also broke a streak of 10-straight losses against the Victoria-based squad for the 'Pack. During those 10 games TRU had been out-scored 26-0, according to the press release.

"This is a history-making moment, our first ever goal against UVic, Ainsley was clutch to put the penalty away," Pennington said. "And then all of our penalties in the shootout were really well executed as well, we worked on them all week."

It was the visiting Vikes that dominated the early portions of the game. Young made a pair of early saves but was eventually bested in the 36th minute when Kettyls played a ball into Desjardins who made a great move around her defender and fired a ball perfectly into the corner of the net.

TRU is advancing to the Canada West Quarter-Finals for the first time. They will travel to Calgary next weekend to face a Mount Royal squad that they defeated 2-0 in September.

For the Vikes the loss brings an end to season that saw the squad yet again qualify for the Canada West postseason in one of the toughest divisions in the country.

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