Panthers’ Stanley: ‘It’s a bloodbath’
Sarah Stanley loves this time of the year.
The intensity ramps up at the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) women’s soccer championship as its win or go home and the players know it.
“It’s a total different ball game,” said Stanley, a fifth-year UPEI Panthers midfielder.
“It’s a bloodbath. After one game, it feels like you’ve played three weekends in a row.”
Stanley should know. The 22year-old Charlottetown native has played in the last four championships. It includes losing in the championship game the first two seasons and in the semifinals the past two years.
The business student is hoping for a different outcome this time around.
“This is my last chance at an AUS title,” she said after Wednesday’s practice. “Nothing would be sweeter, but it’s a long road.” It almost didn’t happen. Stanley has missed the last four games due to illness and the team needed help to clinch a playoff spot.
“It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my athletic career,” she said. “To get that chance again it was worth all the wait and hard work to get back to (being) healthy.”
Stanley said it wouldn’t be possible with the support she received from teammates, coaching staff, family and friends.
Head coach Graeme McDonald said Stanley’s return is a “huge lift” for the Panthers heading into today’s quarter-final game with the Cape Breton Capers.
He said the team has learned some valuable lessons the past few weeks and he is pleased with the women’s preparation this week in practice.
“They just realized if you drop any kind of standards at this level you get punished,” McDonald said. “The conversation we’ve been having this week is about wearing that jersey with pride.”
It is looking to improve its team defence and has made some lineup changes to improve its overall game.
“It’s playoffs, so anything can happen, but we have to make it happen,” McDonald said.
Stanley, the reigning UPEI female athlete of the year, said the Panthers had terrific soccer players, it just has to play to its potential this weekend.
“As long as we leave everything out on the field as a team, play hard and play with pride that’s all I care about,” she said.