Griffins springboard into new season, fresh off two provincial club championships
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – A total of 23 MacEwan Griffins women's soccer players have added provincial champion next to their names after the Northwest United/St. Albert Impact club claimed both Alberta Major Soccer League and Premier League titles.
Head coach Dean Cordeiro led the Major League team to a provincial crown on Aug. 18 in Edmonton before helming the Premier League squad to glory on Monday in Calgary.
Talk about an amazing way to springboard into the Canada West season, which begins for the Griffins on Saturday at Saskatchewan (2 p.m. MT, Canada West TV).
"You always want to cap off the summer as that last team standing," said Cordeiro. "It's a very hard thing to do and it's something you can't take for granted. I'm just proud of the work all the players and coaches put in. We had so many Griffins involved, whether it be Major League or Premier this summer."
Anneke Odinga, Brynn Hobal, Hannah Harper, Alyx Henderson, Brenna Paquin, Grace Schimpf, Ella Fownes, Amelia Russo and Sabrina Alexander led the Major League team to victory on Aug. 18 when they beat Calgary Blizzard 2-1 in the provincial final.
As a result, the team has qualified for the national championship in Surrey, B.C. Oct. 8-14.
"It was a great feeling," said Cordeiro. "It was nice to get the job done again."
A total of 14 Griffins players were on the roster of the Northwest United/St. Albert Impact Premier team that captured the provincial title in Calgary on Monday.
Kate Prince, Selynna Simao, Genevieve Bachand, Nicole Noble, Mariah Arnott, Nicole Brodeur, Sophie Lavallee, Keyanna Charpentier, Kate Scholz, Ella White and Paige Colby led Northwest United/St. Albert Impact to the Premier League crown this past weekend. Griffins Jaycee Krushelniski, Emma Clark, and Amy Runquist were also on the team, but were injured and didn't play.
In the round robin format, they needed to tie or beat the Calgary Rangers on Monday to win the provincial title.
"The team was amazing," said Cordeiro. "We won 4-0 in that final game, and went a perfect 3-0 on the weekend, which was great."
The experience of winning is something they'll be able to draw on as the Canada West season gets underway.
"It's always important," said Cordeiro. "Competition is massive. And competing in championship games is an experience that really battle tests the group and makes you stronger as a team."
