Lethbridge – For the second time is three seasons, the Lethbridge Pronghorn women's soccer team has extended their season into the Canada West playoffs and will travel to Langley to compete in the play-in game with the hopes of moving on to the Canada West quarter-finals.
The Pronghorns travel to Langley, BC to face the Fraser Valley Cascades at Trinity Western on Thursday night in one of four play-in games. The winner will face the Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday in a quarter-final match-up.
Earlier this season, the Pronghorns beat the Cascades 5-0 in Lethbridge and lost a tough 2-0 decision to the Spartans in Langely.
Kick-off Thursday night is slated for 7:00pm PST and will be streamed live on
www.canadawest.tv. Should the Pronghorns advance, the quarter-final will go Saturday at 5:00 PM PST.
A look at the teams
With a win in their final regular season game, the Lethbridge Pronghorns (5-7-2) leap-frogged the Mount Royal Cougars for fourth place. This season, the Pronghorns finished with the third fewest goals against in the Prairie division allowing 18 goals against. Offensively, the Pronghorns scored 16 goals.
The 2017 campaign has been an up and down one for the Cascades (4-6-4). Following the 5-0 loss to the Pronghorns, the Cascades racked up four straight wins but enter the post-season winless in their last seven, including two straight losses to close out the regular season. The Cascades have allowed the second most goals against in all of Canada West, surrendering 33 goals in 14 games.
Trinity Western (10-3-1), who awaits the winner, is the top seed in the Pacific Division and has scored the second most goals in all of Canada West with 36 and only allowed six goals against. During the final weekend of the season, the Spartans had their nine game winning streak snapped, tying Victoria 0-0 and losing 2-0 to the UBC Thunderbirds.
Players to watch
The trio of Lindsay Amatto, Kayla Blacquiere and Nikki Furukawa combined to score 14 of the Pronghorns 16 goals this season. Amatto and Blacquiere tied for the team lead with five goals, while Furukawa was one back with four. Blacquiere also recorded three assists to lead the Pronghorns with eight points.
For the Cascades, Amanda Carruthers led her team with four goals, while Gurneet Dhaliwal sits second with three. The Cascades had six other players that scored at least one goal this season.
An offensive power this season, the Spartans had six players score at least four goals during the regular season. Rachel Hutchinson led the Spartans with seven goals and five assists, while Danea Derksen picked up six goals. Seine Kashima finished second in Canada West in assists with eight and also adde four goals to tie Hutchinson for the team lead with 12 points.
The winners of the quarter-final games will advance to the Canada West final four that will be hosted by the highest remaining seed from the Prairie Division.
