Women's soccer Huskies claim historic ACAC playoff win at home
On a night that was already deemed historic for the Keyano Huskies women's soccer team, they added to the memorable experience with a 3-0 win against The King's University Eagles in the opening round of the 2021 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Women's Soccer playoffs.
"It's huge," said head coach Niels Slotboom. "It's a payoff after a solid season. A lot of these girls have battled coming out of COVID. Nothing was smooth; nothing was easy.
"The league is never easy to begin with, but we're coming out of a year-and-a-half of doing nothing and being able to put the product on the field that they have so far, it's nice to get that reward in playoffs now as well."
With a nervous air about how the ACAC's second season would start for the Huskies squad, they found their footing early.
In the fourth minute of play, Emma Bendera capitalized off a missed header by the King's defence, taking advantage of a brief opening to send the perfect volley over the head of the Eagles' goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
"It was so exciting," said Bendera. "Honestly, the energy just went from one to one hundred really quick. Everyone seemed so much happier with a team effort.
"Everyone worked hard to get the ball to that point. It just gave the team the confidence it needed and it was just amazing. It felt amazing."
Playing as the road side, the Eagles didn't back down from the challenge the Huskies presented. For a solid 30-minute span in the middle of the game, the Eagles pressed for the equalizer, but were turned away each time, with goalkeeper Chloe Gamble and her teammates willing the ball away from their net by the closest of margins.
"It felt more like [my heart] stopped racing for a while there," said Slotboom. "That's the ups and downs of the game and at this level you're going to have that. That half hour in the middle of the game was not great on our part and we got away with it with some really nice individual plays and some desperation to make sure we did not get scored on.
"The game could switch really quickly if that happens of course. That's why we all love sports."
The Huskies eventually found their way back to how they started the game, driving possession deep into King's territory and playing some great lead balls to get behind the Eagles' defence.
Their persistence paid off in the 71st minute as Blanca Palavecino played a perfect chip shot over her opposition to an awaiting Sophie Griffiths, who bolted in after the ball and played it past the goalkeeper to double the Huskies lead.
The crowning moment in the contest would come in the 84th minute, as Nathalie Andersson worked a beautiful give-and-go with teammate Natalie Orellana to create space on their side of the field. That moment of opportunity allowed Andersson to meet up with the ball and deposit it on the far side to put the game further out of reach.
The win vaults the Huskies into the ACAC North Division semi-finals against the Concordia Thunder. Kick-off for Sunday's matchup is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at Clareview Field.