KINGSTON, Ontario – The No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans used three second-half goals to defeat the No. 1 Laval Rouge et Or 3-0 in the U SPORTS semi-final Friday night at Richardson Stadium in Kingston, Ont. The victory sends the Spartans to their 10th national championship final, where TWU will face the UBC Thunderbirds, who defeat the Montreal Carabin 1-0 in the other semi-final. Sunday afternoon's all-Canada West final will be a rematch of the Canada West final that TWU won 1-0 (6-5PK) last weekend in Vancouver, B.C.

TWU fifth-year keeper Hannah Miller (Langley, B.C.) made three saves to earn the shutout win, while Laval's Anne-Marie Laroche made three saves in the Rouge et Or loss.

Scoring for the Spartans were fourth-year forward Maddie Melnychuk (Langley, B.C.), second-year defender Danielle Cooper (Surrey, B.C.), and third-year forward Charity Field (Burnaby, B.C.).

AS IT HAPPENED
Laval started strong and was playing most of the opening five minutes inside the Trinity Western penalty area, but were unable to get the ball to the back of the Spartans' net.

In the 39th minute, the Rouge et Or's best chance came when Laval's Emma-Eve Lecompte had a free kick from just outside the right side of the TWU penalty area. Her shot went high off of the near cross-bar but stayed out of the Spartans net.

After the first 45 minutes, the two teams remained tied at 0-0.

Melnychuk opened the scoring in the 58th minute. The scoring play started with a corner kick by second-year forward Sophie Crowther (New Westminster, B.C.). Crowther sent the ball to the far post, just above the goal crease where Tilly James went high and headed the ball back toward the Laval net. Melnychuk took the ball off her chest and volleyed it into the back of the Rouge et Or net to put the Spartans up 1-0.

Two minutes later Cooper got TWU's second goal of the night. The goal came off of another Spartan set piece. Third-year midfielder Erin Stewart (Winnipeg, Man.) sent her corner kick from the right corner hard towards the near post, where Cooper headed the ball just inside the post to put TWU up 2-0 in the 61st minute.

Field finished off the scoring for the Spartans in the 80th minute to secure the win for Trinity Western. Melnychuk set the goal up with a hard shot from the centre of the Laval box. Laval's Laroche made a diving stop to her right, but she was unable to contain the rebound, which went straight to a charging Field who put the ball into the open Rouge et Or net to put TWU up 3-0.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Graham Roxburgh
"They are a very good team. Probably the most technical team in the country. But if you close down their spaces and make them play to the outside you can find joy and once they start doubting themselves you get one or two chances and momentum swings the other way. One of the things with Laval is that they have had their way with other teams and they try and play with their own rhythm and do their own thing. So we felt that if we could add a little bit of pressure in different situations they might start to crack."
 
I thought other than the first 10 minutes in the first half we executed the game plan really well. Probably the difference between the first half and the second half was we had one or two corners and we knew at one point we might get a break. And we just said let's get two or three options and get a serve into the box and we will just start to grow momentum.
 
On facing UBC
"They are an excellent team and we respect them immensely and it will be a great battle. They have some weapons so we will have to recoup and get some energy and it will be two good teams going at it. Unfortunately, one of us has to lose after two good seasons. We are just blessed and privileged to make it through."
 
On battling through tough conditions:
"Our team has some pretty exciting spirit. They have character within them, that doesn't always show up on the scoreboard but shows up in terms of what you love coming to work with and for. And that goes from coaches to teammates, teammates to teammates. We have faced a lot and we have a teammate who just graduated who is dealing with cancer, so to put it in perspective this is just a soccer game and there are some other big things that we have had to endure as a team. We love our teammate Anna Dunn. Adversity knocks us back, but it doesn't push us over."
 
"Anna is not only a special player who we have had gracing our program for three years, is more importantly a special person and she has left her mark in each of the lives of our players. Even the ones who don't know her and did not play with her know how special she is. Is it a rallying thing for us? It is just something special and it puts soccer in perspective. It helps us realize that there are other battles that are way more important in life. It has brought us together and we care deeply about our teammate who we love and we pray for her immensely."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU outshot Laval 8-7 in total shots, and 6-3 in shots on goal.
• The Rouge et Or had a 9-5 edge in corner kicks.
• This was the Spartans' 11th U SPORTS championship semi-final.
• TWU is 4-1 overall against Laval. In their last meeting, the Spartans defeated the Rouge et Or 4-2 in the semi-final of the 2021 U SPORTS championship.
• TWU has five U SPORTS Championships and 10 championship medals in 14 appearances since entering U SPORTS in 2001.
• Last year TWU lost 1-0 to UBC in the consolation final at the 2022 U SPORTS championship.
• In 2015 the Spartans lost to the Thunderbirds 3-0 in the U SPORTS championship gold medal match.
• The Spartans now have a record of 30-12-1 at the year-end championship.
• TWU fifth-year keeper Hannah Miller (Langley, B.C.) is the Canada West and U SPORTS women's soccer player of the week.
• Spartan third-year midfielder Olivia Kranjcec (Okotoks, Alta.) is the Spartans female athlete of the week.

UP NEXT
The gold medal match is at 3 p.m. (ET) at Richardson Stadium in Kingston, Ont. The game can be seen live on cbcsports.ca.
 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country, and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
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