Women's Soccer Huskies shutout Ooks to clinch championship spot

The Keyano Huskies Women's Soccer team made their final home game of the 2022 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Regular Season a memorable one, topping the NAIT Ooks 2-0 to secure their spot in the 2022 ACAC Women's Soccer Championship with a trip to Lethbridge at the end of the month.  

"In comparison to [Saturday], we got more into the game as the game went on instead of getting out of it, which is what the Saturday game went in that direction," Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. "It was a very mature win being able to not give up a whole bunch of scoring opportunities and making the ones that we got count."  

Felicia Rodney opened the scoring in the 40th minute and Sophie Griffiths tacked on an insurance goal in the 81st minute. Anastacia Lalonde made 13 saves in the victory, her sixth shutout of the season.  
 
The Ooks tested the Huskies like they had in Saturday's draw, but as the Huskies had shown throughout the season, their ability to adjust from game-to-game proved beneficial once again.
 
"It was not an easy game," said Natalie Orellana, who was named the Player of the Game in the victory. "Coming from the tie yesterday, we just knew what we had to fix, and we came back stronger, so it means a lot. 
 
"You can see that everyone's improving, the program is improving, and it just feels really good." 
 
Eleni Stamatakis of the Ooks earned Player of the Game honours for her side.  
 
The win clinched a top-two finish for the Huskies in the ACAC North Division, with a possibility of first place if the Concordia Thunder lose either of the final two regular season games.

Though he said he expected his club to be one of the top teams from the start of the regular season, Slotboom explained that it was just another reward in the process they've followed well so far.  
 
"Clinching a week early is nice, but it's something that we've worked towards the entire time," Slotboom said. "Now that it's there for sure, we just start looking at what championship weekend is going to look like. because we don't have to worry about playing a play-in."  
 
The Women's Soccer Huskies will close out the regular season with a match against the Portage College Voyageurs in Lac la Biche on Sunday, October 23. Kick-off for the game is at 12:00 p.m.