The College Ahuntsic Indiennes have made history.
The Montreal school is off to its first Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association women’s soccer gold-medal game in just its second year.
“It’s a big thing for us because we went last year and lost the first game, so we weren’t able to go for the gold medal,” said second-year midfielder Judith Monarque. “Now we are. We’re very excited.”
The Indiennes, who finished third in 2011, earned their spot in Saturday’s final with a 2-1 victory over the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks Thursday.
Monarque opened the scoring in the 54th minute and Sarah-Michele Nadeau scored the game-winning goal in the 69th minute.
Loren Burke-Gaffney scored with five minutes to go in regulation and the Edmonton-based team pressed hard for the equalizer in the driving rain. They would not beat Josee-Anne Natel-Legault again.
Monarque, who was named her team’s player of the game, said it was stressful in the dying minutes playing to preserve the victory. She was quick to answer what was on the schedule for today’s off-day: “Sleep.”
The sixth-seeded Indiennes will face the fifth-seeded Concordia Thunder at 5 p.m. Saturday in the final.
Ahuntsic’s assistant coach Mélanie Montplaisir said the team would quickly refocus and be ready for the championship game.
“We have a good bunch of girls that know how to manage the pressure,” she said. “The girls are very concentrated. They know what’s (at stake).”
***
TODAY
Noon
NAIT Ooks vs. TRU WolfPack
3 p.m.
FX Garneau vs. Humber Hawks
SATURDAY
9 a.m.
Seventh-place game
Mount Saint Vincent vs. Holland College
11 a.m.
Fifth-place game
Losers from today’s games
2 p.m.
Bronze-medal game
Winners from today’s games
5 p.m.
Gold-medal game
Indiennes d’Ahuntsic vs. Concordia Thunder
