Royal Return
The Royals women’s soccer team came into PACWEST Provincials as tournament favourites to take the entire thing once again. Entering as the first seed, the Royals first challenge came from the tournament hosts, the Capilano Blues.
By Davie Wong
The Royals women's soccer team came into PACWEST Provincials as tournament favourites to take the entire thing once again. Entering as the first seed, the Royals first challenge came from the tournament hosts, the Capilano Blues.
The Blues have always challenged the Royals and this game was no different. The first half showed why the Royals were so dominant during the regular season. The league's Player of the Year and top goal scorer, Andrea Perrotta, did what she does best and put one home for the Royals to get them ahead early. They continued to dominate throughout the first, generating several chances while denying the Blues many chances of their own. Whenever a ball did come through, Royals goalkeeper Alexa Gazzola was there to clean up.
The second half saw a much more even footed game. While the Royals continued to dictate their offense, they were caught out on the counter every now and then. While most of the chances were waved off by the line judge, some of them got through. One of those chances happened to lead to the game tying goal near the 80th minute.
Gutted, but not discouraged, the Royals held the tie as the Blues came in waves after the goal looking for the finisher. After a quick team meeting to regroup, the Royals took the field for extra time. With the way the game had gone, one goal would win it for either side. With gold in their eyes, the Royals returned to their first half form, pressuring the Blues on multiple occasions. It wasn't long until the Blues gave away a corner kick.
Behind the precision of Andrea Perrotta, who delivered the ball, midfielder Taylor Wettig found a way to put the ball away, giving her team the lead in extra time. The Royals held on to the one goal lead to close out the game, and punched their ticket into the gold medal finals. Taylor Wettig was named Player of the Game for her efforts.
Waiting for them in the gold final was none other than the VIU Mariners. The Mariners are no stranger to the Royals, who defeated them last year for the gold medal. This year, the two split a record of 1-1-1, sharing a total of 17 goals between them. However, since then the two teams have tightened up defensively.
The Royals came out with a couple of chances early, but couldn't convert. In fact, it went the other way, and VIU ended up scoring on off a bouncing ball that took a lucky turn. Or unlucky for the Royals, as the goal put them down early.
They struggled to come back in the first half but could not seem to penetrate the VIU backline. The second half brought them much more luck in the offensive third, but also just as little as several chances whizzed over or just wide. The closest they got was off a free kick taken by Andrea Perrotta that smashed off the corner of the woodwork.
VIU had several chances to close out the game in the second as well, but an incredible effort from the Royals backline kept the game as it was. Unfortunately, no progress was made by either team, which meant that the Royals lost at the end of 90 minutes, 1-0.
Silver is no short standing, as the finish earned them a place at the CCAA National Championships, which will be hosted by College Ahustic in Montreal. The team looks there as they prepare to make their second appearance on the national stage.
