Their two-year run as provincial champions is over.
The Kwantlen Eagles women’s soccer team lost in the semifinal round of the PacWest provincial championship tournament last weekend in Kelowna. Kwantlen Polytechnic University had won gold medals in each of the two previous tournaments.
After a convincing 3-0 win over Vancouver Island University in their first game of the six-team tournament, the Eagles were eliminated from championship contention with a 1-0 loss to the UBC-Okanagan Heat. They then fell 3-0 to the Langara Falcons in the bronze medal game Sunday.
Kathleen Ehman of Kwantlen was the team’s Player of the Game (POG) in the win Friday. Also winning POG honours were Meghan Nilsson on Saturday and Chelsey Lal of Delta on Sunday.
Ehman, Kathleen Gratz and Lal were the goalscorers in Friday’s win.
- Lindsay Briggs of North Delta was named the Player of the Game for the UBC-Okanagan Heat, 2-1 losers to Thompson Rivers University in the championship game. Briggs scored the Heat goal in the 88th minute.
Taylor Sarchett of Surrey was the Heat’s POG in Saturday’s win over Kwantlen, and went on to win the tournament’s Top Midfielder award.
- Kwantlen’s men’s team, which staged a fantastic rally late in the season just to qualify for the provincial tournament, were eliminated in Friday’s quarterfinal round. After two hours of scoreless soccer, the Eagles fell 3-1 in a shootout to the UBC-Okanagan Heat.
Kwantlen won four of its five regular season games after going winless in the first seven to qualify for the provincials. Hussein Abu of Kwantlen, a defender from Vancouver, was named to the PacWest league’s first all-star team.
- Shanay Sangha of the Kwantlen Eagles was named the PacWest Player of the Year in the women’s league. Sangha, a Richmond native, Sangha was the lone Eagle on the PacWest first-all star team, which also includes Briggs of the UBC-Okanagan Heat.
Brittany McNeill and Yvamara Rodriguez of Kwantlen were named to the second team.