TORONTO, Ont. โ It wasnโt expected, but their fate seemed all too familiar.
Despite offensive uncertainty and plenty of injuries, the Wilfrid Laurier womenโs soccer team advanced to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national championships, but lost the quarterfinal to the eventual tournament winners, the Trinity Western Spartans, before eventually dropping out of the tournament in the consolation semifinal for the third year in a row.
โItโs really disappointing, obviously,โ third-year Julie Maheu said for her team,ย following the 3-0 quarterfinal loss to the Spartans.
The loss finished Laurierโs season without any national hardware, but the Hawks exceeded expectations. Coming into the season, the team lost three big starters, leaving a few holes in their roster.
After a struggle to find offence at the beginning of the year, third-year striker Emily Brown exploded, scoring seven goals in two games and being named the Laurier, Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and the CIS athlete of the week. She helped the Hawks secure a solid position in the OUA West division and the team started to find their groove going into the playoffs.
The UOIT Ridgebacks were never an issue for Laurier in the OUA quarterfinal, and the Hawks headed to the OUA Final Four โ again.
But they continued to exceed expectations.
After a penalty-kick victory over the Carleton Ravens in the semifinal, Laurier dethroned the No. 1 nationally ranked Western Mustangs to take home the OUA banner.
โItโs a little disheartening to finish on this note, but this season probably exceeded expectations,โ MacLean said. โI thought that they played fantastic as a group. Our young players came to the forefront. We had a lot of great performances and as a team we were superb.โ
Due to the CIS bracket matchups, Laurier was to play the finalist from the Canada West conference in the quarterfinal of nationals. In the Canada West final, the Alberta Pandas defeated the Spartans 2-1, setting up a rematch from 2012 when the Hawks lost to TWU 2-1.
However history repeated itself and the Hawks couldnโt overcome the eventual โ and defending โ national champions. A few mistakes and communication errors sealed Laurierโs fate at a national medal. A day later, a strong Toronto team eliminated them from fifth-place contention.
โOur coach said we played well [against Trinity Western], but at the same time, just thinking about the outcome, itโs just really disappointing,โ Maheu said, sporting a tough look on behalf of her broken hearted team.
โWe just came out of the OUAs and everyoneโs pumped and this is what happens. Iโm still proud of my team; we fought to the end, which was great. Itโs just, again, disappointing.โ
MacLean noted that Maheu was also a pivotal part of the womenโs soccer puzzle that made a statement this season. Maheu was named player of the game for both the CIS quarterfinal and the consolation semifinal, scoring Laurierโs first goal since the 2-0 win against the Ridgebacks.
โItโs not just these two games; sheโs been great the last half of the season,โ MacLean said. โSheโs been a huge impact for us and sheโs been a big part of our success in the last little while and sheโs created a lot of our goals. Sheโs been great.โ
Another issue the Hawks had this year was dealing with injuries. Throughout the year, at least one Hawk was sidelined with an injury. In the quarterfinal against UOIT, rookie Jessica Craig went down with a harsh ankle injury, which sidelined her throughout the OUA finals and the CIS championships. In the quarterfinal of the CIS championships, second-year Suzanne Boroumand suffered a head injury when challenging for a head ball.
โWeโre a pretty banged up team and the roster has really shrunk down to a few players,โ MacLean said. โFor us, I think we need to be a little bit deeper with the amount of players available to us, and if we get that, then I think we have a chance to win the championship.โ
For a season that exceeded expectations, the future of the Hawks seems bright, according to MacLean. Without only one player graduating โ fourth-year goalkeeper Katrina Ward โ MacLean sees a lot of promise in his team.
โI look at our team last year, a young team going into nationals, we were a little bit afraid and not sure what we were dealing with,โ he said. โThis year we didnโt look like that at all and I think next year people are going to have to be a little frightened.โ
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