KINGSTON, Ontario – The No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans are headed to the U SPORTS semi-final after a 2-1 overtime victory over host No. 5 Queen's Gaels Thursday night at Richardson Stadium in Kingston, Ont. TWU third-year midfielder Olivia Kranjcec (Okotoks, Alta.) scored the game winner on a penalty kick in the 111th minute to give the Spartans the victory.

The Spartans will now match-up with the Laval Rouge et Or tomorrow night for a berth in the U SPORTS national championship.

TWU fifth-year keeper Hannah Miller (Langley, B.C.) made eight saves to earn the win, while the Gaels' Kristin Tynan made three saves in the loss.

Also scoring for the Spartans was second-year forward Sophie Crowther (New Westminster, B.C.). While Kendra Couto scored the lone goal for the Gaels.

AS IT HAPPENED
Both teams had challenging opportunities in the opening half, but neither was able to find the back of the net as the teams remained tied at 0-0 after 45 minutes.
Couto got the opening goal in the 53rd minute of the match to put Queen's up 1-0.

Vita Nahin initiated the goal when she went up the left-side to the corner and sent a cross to centre of the box, just outside the six. Couto went high to head the ball down and past a diving Miller just inside the lower left corner of the Spartans net eight minutes into the second half.

The Spartans controlled a lot of the play as the second half progressed and were finally rewarded with 10 minutes remaining when Crowther tied the match up in the 80th minutes off of a free kick. From inside the left sideline Crowther sent a curling direct shot from distance directly into the right corner of the Queen's net to tie the match at 1-1.

The score would remained tied through the remainder of regulation and the first overtime period.

With nine minutes remaining a shot by first-year forward Laren Spiller (Surrey, B.C.) from inside top of the box was stopped on a hand ball by the Queen's defender resulting in a penalty kick for the Spartans. Kranjcec did the honours and knocked the ball past Tynan to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead and the game winner in the 111th minute.

For much of the remainder of the second overtime TWU would keep the ball deep in the Queen's corner to run out the clock. The Gael's got one last chance before the whistle blew, but a shot by Queen's Tatiana Kayrouz went wide just before time ran out.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Graham Roxburgh
"I thought Queen's were an excellent opponent, they gave us everything that we could handle tonight. They have very good players on the ball and are very good in tight situations. So they are always a threat."
 
"I thought we started really well and had the better of the first 15-20 minutes and then we kind of lost our way and they started having belief and then it was back-and-fourth. A little bit unfortunate, we switched off on a good cross and a good header on their goal."
 
"I knew we were starting to get chances even before our goal went in we had two or three good looks, but just had some bad bounces in the box and bad touches. So really pleased cause Soph bailed us out, she does that quite often."
 
"I thought we were coming on and we were the team creating a bit more of the chances. They were a bit more in transition, but I was really pleased with how we dealt with the pressure tonight".
 
On Sophie Crowther goal:
"Sophie is a really special player and doesn't get enough credit. She has the ability to attack players 1v1 and gets good crosses, but is also very good with the ball at her feet. And she has scored three or four goals like that this year. We knew with the wind it was tricky and we knew with desperation, even if it didn't go in maybe a goal mouth scramble would lead to something. So I just said put it as hard as you can on frame and fortunate sometimes those things work out."
 
NOTABLE

• Queen's outshot TWU 14-10, and 11-6 in shots on goal.
• The Spartans had an 8-3 edge in corner kicks.
• This is the Spartans 11th U SPORTS championship semi-final.
• TWU is 3-1 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.
• The Spartans won their 10 Canada West championship last weekend with a 1-0 (6-5PK) win over the UBC Thunderbirds and enter this week's U SPORTS championship as the No. 4 seed.
• TWU has five U SPORTS Championships and 10 championship medals in 14 appearances since entering U SPORTS in 2001.
• The Spartans now have a record of 29-12-1 at the year-end championship.
• Results of other matches: Laval 2 vs Western 0. On the other side of the draw: Ottawa 0 vs UBC 1, and ST. FX 0 vs Montreal 2.
• TWU record vs other competing national teams: UBC 19-27-12, Montreal 3-1, Ottawa 1-2, Queen's 2-0, Western 1-0, St. FX 0-0.
• 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 Spartans will now play the Laval Rogue et Or tomorrow evening at Richardson Stadium in Kingston, Ont. With kick-off set for 6:30 p.m. (ET). In the other semifinal the UBC Thunderbirds will face the Montreal Carabins at 4 p.m. (ET). Both matches can be seen live online on CBCSports. The Championship medal matches are on Sunday, November 12. The Bronze medal match is at 12:30 p.m. (ET) with the Gold medal match at 3 p.m. (ET).
 
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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