Burnaby’s Lindsey Pulice must be wondering what the next three years at Trinity Western University have in store.
The sophomore left back with the Spartans’ women’s soccer team toasted her second straight Gladys Bean Trophy in as many seasons following Trinity Western’s 1-0 victory over the Université de Montreal Carabins in the Canadian Interuniversity Sports national championship final in Toronto on Sunday.
In the final, tournament all-star striker Krista Gommeringer scored the cup-winning goal for TWU in the 59th minute.
Trinity Western’s Vanessa Kovacs was named the championship MVP.
“It’s pretty unbelievable,” said Pulice. “We were all hugging and screaming, some of us were crying. It was an amazing feeling.”
The national title was the fifth such banner in as many CIS finals for the women’s soccer program.
The game was also a rematch of the 2009 final between TWU and Montreal that the Langley school won on penalty kicks.
Last year, Trinity Western won CIS gold in a shootout over Queen’s. The Spartans also won back-to-back titles in 2008 and ’09. The Spartans’ first national title occurred in 2004 against host McGill.
With its fifth national trophy, Trinity Western tied the University of British Columbia for most CIS titles.
Canada West teams have claimed 17 national banners in the 27-year history of the CIS women’s soccer championships.
“It feels just as good as my first. I want to win more of them,” said Pulice, a second-year business major. “It’s the best feeling in the world to share these moments with my teammates. It’s just so great to accomplish it together.”
Pulice’s Burnaby North gradmate Isabella Di Trocchio and fourth-year New Westminster midfielder Caitlin Haines also shared in the Spartan’s second straight crown.
But the path to a second consecutive national tournament was far from a sure thing for Trinity Western.
The Spartans finished fourth overall in the Canada West conference with an 8-1-3 record.
After starting the year as the pre-season favourite, TWU fell to No. 8 nationally in the polls.
But in the playoffs, Trinity avenged an earlier regular season loss to the University of Victoria, advancing to the conference final with a 1-0 win over the Vikings and claiming one of two available berths to the nationals.
In the CanWest finals, TWU lost 2-1 in overtime to Alberta.
Trinity Western opened the national championships with a 3-0 win over Laurier in quarter-final action.
The Spartans then got by Atlantic champion Cape Breton 1-0 to advance to their fifth CIS final in six seasons.
“Last year, we had momentum. (This season) was a great challenge, but we succeeded,” said Pulice. “The coaches and the girls, everyone has so much passion and so much heart just to really play for each other. It’s basically what we’re all about.”
