Queen's Golden Gaels Denied 3rd Consecutive Title in CIS Women's Soccer

The Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s soccer championship in Victoria, British Columbia hosted history. The national championship game marked only the second time that the Queen’s Golden Gaels and Trinity Western Spartans met in the CIS National Tournament. Trinity Western bested Queen’s in a shootout in a 2009 semi-final contest. Trinity Western won the national title in 2008 and 2009, while Queen’s claimed the last two titles.

The national title game went scoreless in regulation, forcing penalty kicks. When Trinity Western claimed their first national title in 2004, the contest was also decided on penalty kicks. With Trinity Western ahead 3-2, Alexis McKinty of Queen’s shot high over the head of Kristen Funk. Queen’s defender Jessie DeBoer was also denied by Funk. With tensions running high, Trinity Western captain Colleen Webber logged the game winning score. It was not the first time that she contributed game winning heroics. In the 2009 CIS National tournament, she scored the game winning goal versus Queen’s in the semi-finals and then against the Montreal Carabins in the gold medal game. The other Trinity Western players who scored included Stephanie Chin, Alessandra Oliverio and Natalie Boyd.

Krista Gommeringer of Trinity Western, the 2012 Canada West Rookie of the Year, led all players with six shots on net. Natalie Boyd of Trinity Western was second with five shots. Queen's was outshot by a 22-13 mark. Trinity Western logged 10 shots on target, while Queen's only had five. The only statistical advantage for Queen's came in corner kicks, with Queen's prevailing by a 5-4 mark.

Representing Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, the Golden Gaels were the two-time defending national champions, but their road to the final was one built on upset. Of note, Jackie Tessier was the only Queen’s player to be named to the CIS All-Star team. Despite their place as two-time champs, the squad found themselves as underdogs versus the No. 1 ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees. Centennial Stadium in Victoria hosted the undefeated Ottawa squad that boasted the Chantal Navert Memorial Award winner (given to the best player in CIS women’s soccer) Gillian Baggott.

Although Ottawa had allowed only one goal in the regular season, the squad found themselves on the end of a 4-1 upset. Of note, Baggott scored on Queen’s goalkeeper Madison Tyrell. Ironically, the game winning goal was scored by a native of Ottawa, Breanna Burton. She would go on to score two goals in the contest.

Their opponents in the gold medal game were the Trinity Western Spartans. The squad featured four players on the CIS All-Star team, including goalkeeper Kristen Funk, defender Colleen Webber and striker Krista Gommeringer on the First Team. Fourth year player and midfielder Natalie Boyd was named to the Second Team. The Spartans defeated the host team, the Victoria Vikes, by a 1-0 mark.

The two clubs actually played each other in the Canada West postseason tournament, and Victoria actually defeated Trinity Western by a 2-1 mark. A very tightly contested contest, Natalie Boyd, a fourth-year player, logged the only goal of the contest, scored at the 36-minute mark. The best opportunity for Victoria came in the sixth minute of the game, but Emma Greig’s header went over the bar.