The Queens lose a tough one at the CCAA National Championships

Saint-Lambert, QC  – Wednesday morning the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens played in their first-ever soccer national match in program history. They were matched up with the Champlain Saint-Lambert Cavaliers who are out of Champlain, Quebec and are hosting the Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association (CCAA) Championships.

Unlike Alberta, it was a beautiful sunny day in Quebec for this national’s match-up. As the Queens enter this match, they have not lost a game since their first game of the season against the SAIT Trojans. They have been on a tear ever since.

For the Cavaliers, they got a berth into nationals for winning the bid to host the national championships. They finished in sixth place in the RSEQ standings with a record of 2-4-4 (W-L-T). This league is equivalent to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) but is based out of Quebec.

The first fifteen minutes of the match was played mostly in the middle-third of the pitch at Seaway 3 Park. In the 19th minute, the Cavaliers were given the first opportunity to open the scoring, but the striker’s touch was too strong and rolled right into the hands of Queens goaltender Abby Kotyk (Bachelor of Kinesiology).

The back-and-forth action continued for the remainder of the first half, leading to a 0-0 draw at the 45th minute. Possession was pretty equal between the Queens and the Cavaliers. No team really dominated the match, and each had their own opportunities to open the scoring.

In the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Queens struggled to get the ball out of their own half with the Cavaliers pressuring to open the scoring. 15 minutes into the second half, Red Deer was given a scare after a cross was sent in by the Cavaliers and the opposing player collided with Kotyk. She would stay down for a few minutes before getting up on her own and shaking it off. The Cavaliers continued their pressure on the Queens with a couple of high-percentage goal chances, but they would put it wide of the net for a goal kick for Kotyk.

Moments later, the Queens and Sofia Quinteros (Bachelor of Science in Psychology), an ACAC All-Conference recipient, was given a free kick. She would send it into the 18-yard box, and it was headed off the post by striker Jenica Swartz (Bachelor of Science Pre-Med).

After this play and a goal kick by the Cavaliers, their striker, Mariam Jama-Pelletier (Social Sciences) was sent on a clear breakaway and would dribble the ball into the box and strike it home past Kotyk to open the scoring late in the second half.

This goal would go as the game-winner as the Queens fall to the Cavaliers 1-0. After scoring 89 goals in the regular season, they were shut-out for the first time this year.

With this loss, the Queens will battle with the Manitoba Champions, Les Rouges de Saint-Boniface, in the bronze quarter-final tomorrow morning at 8:00 am MST. Les Rouges lost 3-0 to the Humber Hawks earlier this morning.

The players of the game went to defender Kayla Yeo (Practical Nurse Diploma) of the Queens and Cavaliers striker Mariam Jama-Pelletier. Yeo had an impressive game out of the back field stopping multiple attacks by Saint-Lambert and Pelletier scored the lone goal in this quarterfinal match.

In other news, last night striker Sein Furuyama was named an CCAA All-Canadian. This would add to her impressive season where she broke the ACAC Single Season Goal Record, was named ACAC South Rookie and Player of the Year as well as the nod to ACAC South Division All-Conference team.