Langley-based Trinity Western University Spartans’ quest for a sixth national title came to sudden end Sunday afternoon, Nov. 21, as TWU women fell 3-2 in penalty kicks to the MacEwan Griffins in the U SPORTS national championship in Sydney, N.S.
Spartans and Griffins battled to a 2-2 tie through regulation and overtime before the MacEwan bested Trinity Western 3-2 in penalty kicks.
Griffin back-up keeper Bianca Castillo made the save on the Spartans Katheryn Harvey to earn the victory for MacEwan. TWU scored twice in five attempts, from Anna Dunn, and Olivia Kranjcec, while MacEwan scored three times in four attempts, Erin Van Dolder, Hannah Supina, and Grace Mwasalla.
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The Spartans finish the season at 16-1-1 earning a Canada West championship and a U SPORTS silver medal.
TWU head coach Graham Roxburgh said “when you lose in a penalty shootout it is really just a toss of a coin to determine the winner. Give MacEwan credit, they defended really well and made it tough for us as they limited our space. Both teams left it all out on the field tonight. Just unfortunate that you didn’t get enough done to score in regulation or overtime and then it has to turn into a crap shoot.”
“We were struggling for a while,” he added.
“Part of that was because we are at the end of the season and not much gas is left in the tank.”
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