The Trinity Western Spartans are one win away from appearing in yet another U Sports national championships.
Rachel Hutchinson broke through for the game’s only goal in the 76th minute on Saturday in a 1-0 win over the UFV Cascades at TWU’s Chase Office Field.
The women’s soccer teams were playing in the Canada West quarter-finals.
“Over the last 15 to 20 minutes I thought we finally settled down and started having one or two moments with half-chances,” said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh. “I knew it was going to take one chance with someone risking and Danae (Derksen) did that.”
The Spartans scored 36 goals during 14 regular season games but the Cascades kept them bottled up for much of the game.
But in the 76th minute, Derksen kept the ball alive near the end-line and slid a pass over to Hutchinson in the six-yard box. Hutchinson, the team’s leading scorer, made no mistake, hammering the ball home.
TWU did not allow any shots on goal as Christina Oliverio picked up the clean sheet.
Roxburgh was also impressed by the performance from Jenaya Robertson and his team’s outside backs.
The Spartans will now host the Canada West Final Four championships, facing UBC in one of the semifinals on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The other semifinal features the MacEwan Griffins and the UVic Vikes.
The two winners will play for the Canada West gold medal on Saturday at 5 p.m., as well as qualify for the national championships.
The T-Birds beat the Spartans twice during Canada West conference play.