General 10/29/2022 3:00:00 PM Katya Sodamin

WSOC: Cougars suffer heartbreak loss in 2OT and penalty kicks

Box Score Hosted at Mount Royal University Stadium Field, today's quarter-final match pitted the Pacific Division fourth place Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack against the Prairie Division first place Mount Royal University Cougars.

In a first half dominated by MRU with the majority of the play in TRU's end, the Wolfpack defence was tested early. At the three-minute mark the Cougars made a strong advance at the net and Mount Royal forward Athena Fourlas found the mesh to give her team the lead. MRU continued to control the play and their efforts paid off with a second goal at the 12 minute mark by Ashtyn Haycock.

Both teams were aggressive on the ball late in the first half, with the Wolfpack pushing hard for access to the Cougars net. Mount Royal defence remained strong however, with TRU not earning their first shot on net until the 37 minute.

The Wolfpack came out with energy in the second half, forcing the majority of the play to remain in the Cougars' end. Hard work paid off for TRU with a goal by midfielder Camryn Curts in the 56 minute. They continued their advance and defender Madeline Trozzo sent a rocket at the Cougars net, which came back off the crossbar to be found by midfielder Hawan Abdissa who headed it in for a tie game.

With tension building so did the yellow cards and strong advances on both ends of the pitch. The Cougars took a brief lead near the end of the game with a goal by forward Catriona McFadden in the 88 minute, however the Wolfpack refused to give in, and in an exciting performance in the 90 minute Alexis Virgo scored to tie the game and send the match into overtime.

Both teams played hard in two overtimes and huge saves at both ends of the pitch kept the game at a stalemate, leaving the winner to be determined by penalty kicks. It was back and forth through eight shooters aside until Wolfpack defender Allie Shiyuk scored for the victory, advancing her team to the Canada West Women's Soccer Final Four Championship.

"It was a very stressful end to the game for sure," Shiyuk said, who was named TRU's Player of the Game. "No one wants to go to pens, but every single girl on our team stepped up and capitalized and that was really nice to see."

This shootout win is the second in a row for the Wolfpack, who also won in the same fashion last weekend to advance to the quarter-final.

"It was one of those games today where we looked like we were down, but the thing about this group is that they've shown a ton of character all year and they don't know when they are beaten," TRU Head Coach Mark Pennington said. "We got back into it, got it back to 2-2 and it looked like it was over and then managed to tie it up."

This was Mount Royal University women's soccer's first playoff appearance since joining Canada West. MRU Head Coach Tino Fusco said, "I'm proud of my team, I'm proud of my players and we'll be back."

"We played with our hearts today and unfortunately an unlucky bounce took us to overtime, took us to penalty kicks," Catriona McFaddens, Cougars forward and Player of the Game said.

The TRU Wolfpack will be back on the pitch next weekend at the Final Four to compete for the Canada West championship.

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