Women's Soccer Huskies shine at home against Wolves

There was no place like home for the Keyano Huskies Women’s Soccer team this weekend.  
 
Hosting the Northwestern Polytechnic Wolves, the Huskies emerged victorious with a 7-0 result Saturday and a 4-1-win Sunday against the Northwestern Polytechnic Wolves at Shell Place.  
 
“It was what we needed after last weekend,” Harleen Singh said. “It’s just building off of this weekend to the end of the season.” 

The wins boosted the Huskies back to a 2-1-0 record and back into the thick of the playoff conversation in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) North Division.  
 
The story of the weekend was the duo of Marissa Mestre and Ayla Taller. The pair factored into eight of the Huskies’ 11 goals over the 180 minutes of action. Saturday, Taller had a pair of goals and four assists while Mestre recorded a hat trick. Sunday, Mestre added two goals while Taller had an assist.  
 
“We were trying to put a good pairing together that we thought would work well,” Head Coach Tiffany Fontaine said. “Saturday, I did feel like the switch worked quite well. Ayla’s still learning the position.  
 
“She’s going to have some time trying to learn to come off the ball, when to make those runs. They still managed to put a lot of pressure on those backs and that’s what we want.”   

“I think Ayla and I played well together up top this weekend,” Mestre said. “More’s to come this season.”  

Harleen Singh’s 23rd and 24th goals of her ACAC career featured with a single strike in each game. Khloe Webber and the first career ACAC goal from Addyson McLean also feature in the weekend wins.  

Goalkeeper Gaelyn Verdin wasn’t tested much throughout the weekend, picking up both wins and the third shutout of her ACAC career.  

Fontaine was confident the club found its footing with the two games at home.

“It’s a great feeling to be in front of your home crowd, take the six points you’re needing,” she said. “We also know that we need to be considering putting them in the back of the net for goals because this is going to be a tight pool within the top few that are competing for spots for provincials.” 

With the structure of the 2024 ACAC Women’s Soccer Championship, these upcoming two weekends for the Huskies are already must-wins.  

An away weekend against the Lakeland College Rustlers features first with the Rustlers currently leading the ACAC North with a 3-1-0 record. That will be followed by a home weekend back at Shell Place against the NAIT Ooks, who sit level with the Huskies at 2-1-0, though the Ooks hold a temporary tiebreaker on goal difference.  

“We did challenge today to put the ball in the back of the net, so we have some work to do ahead of us to make sure those are hitting net versus just off target,” Fontaine continued. “The competition is going to get harder as it comes.”

The Huskies visit the Lakeland College Rustlers for a pair of games September 21 and 22, kicking off on both days at 12:00pm.