CIS women's soccer championship: Capers, Blain hold off host Blues in thrilling nightcap
TORONTO (CIS) – Karolyne Blain, the AUS conference MVP from Copper Cliff, Ont., scored the lone goal in the 71st minute to lead the Cape Breton Capers to a narrow 1-0 victory over the host Toronto Varsity Blues in the fourth quarter-final of the 2013 CIS women's soccer championship Thursday night at Varsity Centre.
Toronto outshot Cape Breton 7-1 in their first-ever meeting, but Capers goalkeeper Tiffany O'Donnell of Cole Harbour, N.S., stood tall to earn the shutout for the Atlantic champions.
With the win, the Capers advance to the championship side of the bracket for the first time since claiming the national title in 2007, and for only the second time in program history. In Saturday's second semifinal at 4:30 p.m., they will take on the defending CIS champion Trinity Western Spartans, who shut out Laurier 3-0 earlier in the day.
Cape Breton is the only remaining undefeated team in the country after Thursday's quarter-final matches.
The Varsity Blues take on the Hawks in an all-OUA consolation semifinal tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.
"It was a gritty performance," said AUS coach of the year and Capers bench boss Ness Timmons. "The first half they played hard and once we got the goal the girls sat back and defended and held Toronto very well. Karolyn is always a threat. Any time she's on the ball she can make something happen."
Blain, who was voted to the first all-Canadian team before the championship, got Cape Breton on the board midway through the second half as she received a through ball from Alyssa Armstrong of St. John's and sent a wide-angle shot through traffic to beat Blues goalkeeper Sara Petrucci of Bolton, Ont.
Blues rookie striker Claudia Piazza of Brampton, Ont., had a chance to even the score 10 minutes later as she received a centering pass from veteran Aisha Lewis of Mississauga, Ont., but her shot sailed over the net.
Toronto continued to pressure, outshooting Cape Breton 5-1 in the second half and sent a flurry of shots on the net in the final minutes of action but were unable to solve O'Donnell.
"It was an unbelievable performance by our team," said Varsity Blues head coach Anthony Capotosto. "I've been associated with Varsity Blues soccer since 1997 and I can say with 100 percent certainty that I have never been more proud of a team that I am tonight."
"I could talk about every single player that was out there today and the performance that they gave and the passion that they showed for the program. It was tremendous."
SCORING SUMMARY:
CBU 0-1: 1
TOR 0-0: 0
First Half
No scoring
Second Half
1. CBU Karolyne Blain (1) (Alyssa Armstrong), 71st
Goalkeepers:
CBU: Tiffany O'Donnell (W, 0 GA, 7 saves, 90:00, 1-0)
TOR: Sara Petrucci (L, 1 GA, 0 saves, 90:00, 0-1)
Team Stats
Shots: CBU 4, TOR 13
Shots on net: CBU 1, TOR 7
Corners: CBU 5, TOR 7
Offsides: CBU 0, TOR 2
Fouls: CBU 9, TOR 12
Yellow cards: none
Red cards: none
Players of the game:
CBU: Shanice Maxwell
TOR: Aisha Lewis
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Thursday, Nov. 7
11:00 Quarter-final 1: Montreal 2, Western 1
13:30 Quarter-final 2: Alberta 1, Laval 0
16:30 Quarter-final 3: Trinity Western 3, Wilfrid Laurier 0
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Cape Breton 1, Toronto 0
Friday, Nov. 8
13:30 Consolation 1: Western vs. Laval (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
16:30 Consolation 2: Wilfrid Laurier vs. Toronto (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Saturday, Nov. 9
13:30 Semifinal 1: Montreal vs. Alberta (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
16:30 Semifinal 2: Trinity Western vs. Cape Breton (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, Nov. 10
11:00 5th-place game (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Bronze medal (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
16:30 Championship final (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Source: CIS
