Joey Payeur
A different brand of Canadian snowbirds are in full flight towards a U.S. college championship.
The top-seeded Providence University College Pilots from Otterburne, Man., and featuring Fort Frances native Jess Caul at striker, earned a 2-1 victory over fifth-ranked Ohio Christian University Trailblazers yesterday in their opening game in Pool ‘A’ at the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II women’s national soccer tournament in Kissimmee, Fla.
With a win in this afternoon’s match-up against fourth-seeded Bob Jones University Bruins (Greenville, S.C.), Providence will clinch first place in the pool and an automatic berth into Saturday’s final at the six-team event.
“We know that yesterday wasn’t our best game for our effort, so we definitely need to step it up and play our best [today],” Caul noted.
The Pilots, who qualified for the nationals by capturing the NCCAA North Central Region title over the weekend, opened the scoring 15 minutes in.
Robyn Coffey drilled a free kick that was beautifully-directed by teammate Julika Kehler into the bottom right-hand corner of the net.
The Trailblazers made it 1-1 before halftime—setting the stage for a thrilling second half, which saw Kehler’s offensive zone pressure pay off in spades.
“The defender tried to clear the ball but Julika was there to challenge and it flew off her and into the right side of the net,” Caul recalled.
“It happened so fast, the goalie didn’t even get a chance to move or make an attempt to save it.”
The Trailblazers came close in the final 10 minutes of regulation time with a couple of scoring chances, but were unable to solve Pilots’ keeper Roberta Bergen for the tying goal.
The weather conditions for the game were a good omen from the start for the northern visitors not accustomed to Florida’s usual stifling dose of heat and humidity.
“There was no heat, so it was a good time to play,” Caul said, referring to the 5 p.m. (local time) start.
“It was pretty windy and it cooled off by the time we played.”
Caul admitted the team was battling through various injuries at the moment, but firmly stated, “We just have to push through. We’ll be good to go for Bob Jones today.”
Meanwhile, it could end up being double gold for Providence at the nationals as the Pilots’ No. 2-ranked men’s team dumped seventh-seeded Clearwater 3-0 in their opener yesterday.
With eight teams on the men’s side playing in a win-or-go-home format, the victory put Providence into this afternoon’s semi-final against No. 3 Northland International University Pioneers (Dunbar, Wis.)
The survivor advances to the title game Saturday afternoon.
