CIS womenâ??s soccer championship: Defending champ Spartans too much for Laurier

TORONTO (CIS) – All-Canadian striker Krista Gommeringer scored two goals as the CIS defending champion Trinity Western Spartans blanked the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 3-0 in the third quarter-final of the day at the 2013 national women’s soccer championship Thursday evening at Varsity Centre.
 
Trinity Western remains undefeated in their now four meetings with Laurier on the national stage.
 
The Spartans, who look to capture their record-tying fifth CIS title – all in the past decade, are set to appear in their fourth championship semifinal in the past six years. Saturday at 4:30 p.m., they will take on the winner of Thursday’s fourth quarter-final, featuring the AUS champion Cape Breton Capers and host Toronto Varsity Blues.
 
Each time the Spartans have won their quarter-final in their six prior appearances, they have claimed the CIS title.
 
The Golden Hawks move to the consolation side of the bracket and will take on either Cape Breton or Toronto tomorrow at 4:30 p.m.
 
“It was a pretty even first half and then we were very fortunate to score an opportunistic goal that settled our nerves a little bit,” said Spartans head coach Graham Roxburgh. “I thought we played extremely well in the second half and I’m really pleased with that.”
 
The Spartans opened the scoring just before the half when Gommeringer, a Calgary native, sent a corner kick that deflected off a Laurier player and into the net.
 
Laurier goalkeeper Katrina Ward of Surrey, B.C., came up with a big save minutes later and Trinity Western took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
 
Golden Hawks defender Sarah Farano of Oakville, Ont., almost netted the equalizer in the 53^rd minute, but Spartans goalkeeper Rachel Bedek of London, Ont., jumped up for the huge save.
 
Trinity Western extended their lead in the 69^th minute as fourth-year veteran Jessica King of Liverpool, England, crossed the ball to Gommeringer, who headed it off the cross bar and in.
 
Fellow CIS all-Canadian Emily Brown of Waterloo, Ont., nearly got the Hawks on the board in the 76^th when she rang a booming shot of the cross bar.
 
Gommeringer notched her second of the game in the 86th minute as she intercepted a Laurier header and made no mistake in finding the back of the net to give the Spartans the 3-0 victory.
 
“The score is not a reflection of the game at all,” said Laurier head coach Barry MacLean. “On balance of play, we were as good as they were throughout the game. We had a couple of great chances. I think a couple of goalkeeping errors are the difference in the game and the third goal we were pushed forward and we gave away the goal.”
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
TWU 1-2: 3
WLU 0-0: 0
First Half
1. TWU (own goal), 45^th
 
Second Half
2. TWU Krista Gommeringer (1) (Jessica King), 69^th
3. TWU Krista Gommeringer (2) (unassisted), 86^th
 
Goalkeepers:
TWU: Rachel Bedek (W, 0 GA, 1 save, 90:00, 1-0)
WLU: Katrina Ward (L, 3 GA, 5 saves, 90:00, 0-1)
 
Team Stats
Shots: TWU 13, WLU 6
Shots on net: TWU 8, WLU 1
Corners: TWU 7, WLU 2
Offsides: TWU 2, WLU 0
Fouls: TWU 7, WLU 9
Yellow cards: none
Red cards: none
Players of the game:
TWU: Vanessa Kovacs
WLU: Julie Maheu
 
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 vs. Toronto (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Friday, Nov. 8
13:30 Consolation 1: Western vs. Laval (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
16:30 Consolation 2: Wilfrid Laurier vs. Loser QF 4 (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. Winner QF 4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Sunday, Nov. 10
11:00 5^th-place game (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Bronze medal (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
16:30 Championship final (www.CIS-SIC.tv)

Source: CIS