By Alex Quevillon
SURREY – The Thunder’s women soccer squad will play for a bronze medal after beating Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in a hard-fought 2-1 win on Friday.
Thunder Midfielder Jaymie Baldree and forward Ginny Cass each scored, while keeper Jennifer Kelly made several big saves to preserve the victory.
“Going for a medal is always exciting,” said Kelly. “I just tried to stay focused the whole game.”
Algonquin hasn’t played for a national medal in 22 years of Canadian Colleges Athletic Association tournaments.
“I think it’s a big step going forward for the program,” said head coach Dom Oliveri. “To not have been here for 10 years and then come in and do what we’ve done, it means only great things.”
The Thunder didn’t compete for a medal at their last national appearance in 2002-03.
Baldree, who also tallied yesterday before leaving the game to injury, opened the scoring today in the 15th minute.
“We had a new mentality coming in after losing the first game,” said Baldree after the game.
Despite giving up most of the scoring chances, Cass extended the lead 24 minutes later.
“We took our chances today,” said Oliveri. “We didn’t create too many but the chances we created, we took them. Whenever you can take advantage of your chances like that, it’s a good day.”
Loren Burke-Gaffney scored on a long strike in the 75th minute cut Algonquin’s lead in half, but that’s as close as they would get, even with five minutes of injury time.
The Thunder will take on Thompson Rivers University tomorrow morning for bronze. TRU took a 4-1 decision against Ahuntsic before Algonquin’s game.