Make it 12 - Trojans finish off perfect regular season
CALGARY, ALTA., (Oct. 20, 2018) — The SAIT Trojans women's soccer team is perfect.
Their 5-0 win Saturday afternoon against the Ambrose University Lions at SAIT's Cohos Commons Field ended their Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) regular season with a flawless 12-0 record.
"I think we'll celebrate this regular season achievement for the rest of this weekend, but after that, we need to get back to work," said Trojans veteran, Mataya Blakney (5th year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration). "On Monday, we're going to get focused and work on what we need to improve on in order to do well next weekend."
The 'next weekend' Blakney is talking about is the ACAC Men's and Women's Soccer Championships, which are being hosted by the Trojans from Oct. 26-28 at Cohos Commons Field.
By finishing first in the South Division, the Trojans have earned a bye into the ACAC semifinals.
"Huge," said Trojans head coach John Talerico said about the bye. "That game can go either way, it can beat you up. I'm pretty happy we get the Friday off."
In last year's post-season, the Trojans were in the same position, but fell 1-0 to the Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves. Blakney says the players who returned this season are hungry to avenge that loss.
"It would be huge for the program and huge for some of the girls," she said. "The semifinal loss last year still stings for a lot of us; I know I still think about it and want to cry at times."
In Saturday's win, it was Blakney who led the Trojans, scoring twice to finish the season with 13 goals – good enough to lead the team.
"Taya had a fantastic season," said Talerico. "She has been a little up and down, but most of that comes from herself as she has high expectations for her own play. We have a ton of confidence in her and her abilities. She scores goals, she sets up goals. She's beautiful to watch."
Also finding the back of the net was Taylor Zimmer (2nd year, Calgary, Bachelor of Business Administration), Deanna Kuan (3rd year, Edmonton, Alta., Business Administration) and Skye Gordon (2nd year, Langley, BC, Bachelor of Business Administration).
"There's a few things we are going to continue to tweak going forward, including ball control," said Talerico on his plan for this coming week. "I know we tend to have possession of the ball a lot, but we can tighten up a little bit."
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