Horns women’s soccer loses a tough one

Despite a strong effort, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s soccer team’s season ended with a heartbreaking loss.

Facing University of the Fraser Valley Cascades in the Canada West play-in game Thursday night in Langley, the Horns were able to hold UFV off the scoresheet for the majority of the game before their B.C. opponents struck for the game’s sole goal in the 84th minute for a 1-0 win.

The loss ends the Pronghorns season on a tough note as the Cascades advance to face the Trinity Western Spartans in the Canada West quarter-final game today.

“It was a heartbreaker, that one hurt,” said Pronghorns head coach Fred Trinh, whose team defeated the Cascades 5-0 in the regular season at the end of September. “We were stretched every which way, but we knew they were going to come out firing on all cylinders because they know they were better than the 5-0 drubbing that we gave them last time.”

The Cascades held a 6-2 advantage in shot attempts after a scoreless first half, but both teams had two shots on goal.

Lindsay Amatto and Nikki Furukawa each had a shot on goal, while Horns keeper Micaela Stone turned aside shots from Janelle Henke and Gurneet Dhaliwal.

After having a goal disallowed only minutes earlier on an offside, the Cascades struck for the sole goal and the game-winner as Henke was able to head a cross pass past Stone.

Henke’s was the lone shot registered by either team in the second half in what turned out to be a defensive battle.

“We did everything really well to withstand the onslaught and by all accounts my backline was phenomenal,” said Trinh. “Jesse Dueck, Raeleen Vanden Dungen and Emina Arima (had) a stellar effort. Not only that, Emily Williston and Erica Augsten were solid on the backfive with Nikki. They held us in the game. Emina was phenomenal. I thought she was the best player of the game. She was all over the place, but in a good way. She helped us control that back line. She was fearless, she tackled hard and led by example. To me, she was the player of the game.”

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