The Keyano Huskies Women's Soccer team took a strong step in the direct of making it to their first-ever Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Women's Soccer Championship game Thursday, defeating the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens 6-1 at the Edmonton Soccer Dome.  

Felicia Rodney dazzled with a natural hat trick in the second half while Marissa Mestre, Harleen Singh, and Natalie Orellana also found the back of the net.  

"A little bit of a shaky start; unfortunate bounce really," Head Coach Niels Slotboom said. "We stuck to what we know, we stuck to the game and I think it's 30 seconds after we got scored on we got one back right away and I don't think the girls let go since that point."  
 
An unassisted goal from Paige Kalbfleisch opened the scoring in the first minute as the Huskies looked nervous early, but less than a minute later a cross pass by Alouet Agar found Mestre, who was denied on the initial chance but made good on the rebound to level the game.  

Goalkeeper Gaelyn Verdin was rock solid after the early goal against, making three saves in the win.  
 
The Huskies went ahead for good in the 35th minute as a foul in the box on Agar prompted a penalty kick from Singh, who made no mistake for the eventual game-winning goal.  

Taking a stranglehold on the game in the 47th minute, Rodney scored her first of the match, followed by goals in the 77th and 80th minutes of the game to put things further on ice. Orellana scored in the 88th minute.  
 
"I think I started off a little bit slow, but toward the start of the second half I did really well and started executing what we were doing in practice and all season," Rodney said after collecting Player of the Game honours.  

The win puts the Huskies up against a familiar opponent in Friday's semi-final as they'll take on the Lethbridge College Kodiaks. While the Huskies got the better of the Kodiaks on the futsal court last spring, it was the Kodiaks defending home turf in October 2022, winning a 1-0 game in the quarter-finals.  

Nearly a full year later, Rodney and the Huskies are eager to flip the script.  

"If we can play the way we are playing currently, I think we can have a good game," Rodney said. "It's a rematch from last year and a lot of the girls just want to prove that we're better than last year."  

The Huskies and Kodiaks will meet at 12:30 p.m. in ACAC Women's Soccer semi-final action at the Edmonton Soccer Dome.