Joey Payeur
The dream of bringing a U.S. college title home to Canadian soil is over for Jess Caul.
The Fort Frances native and her top-ranked Providence University College Pilots squad from Otterburne, Man. were blanked 4-0 yesterday by fourth-seeded Bob Jones University Bruins (Greenville, S.C.) at the National Christian College Athletic Association Division II women’s national soccer tournament in Kissimmee, Fla.
The loss means Providence, who finished Pool ‘A’ play with a 1-1 record, is all but guaranteed to be in the third-place game tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. (CDT).
“Their passing was phenomenal,” Caul said of the Bruins, who are participating in their first national tournament.
“They were the better team.
“They pushed us to the outside rather than letting us have the middle, and going down the middle is kind of our game plan,” she noted.
Bob Jones (1-0) is a heavy favourite to advance to tomorrow’s championship final—needing only a win today against the fifth-seeded Ohio Christian University Trailblazers (0-1), who lost 2-1 to Providence on Wednesday.
An Ohio victory would cause a three-way tie in the pool, with everyone having beaten each other.
But with goal differential being the next deciding factor, the Bruins are in the driver’s seat right now at plus-4 while the Trailblazers are minus-one and the Pilots minus-three.
Ohio Christian would have to defeat what appears to be a significantly more talented Bob Jones team by three goals today to advance to the final.
In the unlikely event that happens, Providence then would get pushed down into tomorrow’s fifth-place game at 9 a.m. (CDT).
Meanwhile, the Pilots’ male counterparts also had a rough day yesterday at the nationals.
The No. 2-ranked squad team fell 6-2 in the semi-finals to the third-seeded Northland University College Pioneers (Dunbar, Wis.)
Providence will take their own shot at third place tomorrow at 11:15 a.m. (CDT) against the fifth-ranked Lancaster Bible College Chargers (Lancaster, Penn.)
The Charges lost a 1-0 heart-breaker in overtime yesterday to the top-seeded Moody Bible Institute Archers (Chicago).
