USports News

The Thompson Rivers WolfPack came up clutch in a shootout once again to capture their first national title in a 2-1 win over the UBC Thunderbirds at the 2022 U SPORTS Men’s Soccer Championship presented by RBC. Alesandro Comita for TRU and Daniel Kaiser for UBC both scored in extra time, while Domenico Comita played hero for the WolfPack with the shootout-clinching goal. A back-and-forth game throughout regulation shifted in UBC’s favour in the 69th minute when the WolfPack were reduced to ten men after a TRU player picked up his second yellow card. TRU was unable to run out the 90 minutes to send the game to extra time and then took the lead against all odds with five minutes left in the first overtime frame. Jost Hausendorf went on a great solo run and played a cross in that Alesandro Comita sent into the back of the net for the first goal of the game. The Thunderbirds refused to go away without a fight, however and the captain Daniel Kaiser knotted the game back up with just five minutes left to play. Thomas Gardner sent a free-kick into the box that Kaiser perfectly flicked into the back of the WolfPack net.

Needing a shootout victory at both the quarter-final and semifinal stages of the tournament, TRU took that high-pressure experience and used it to their advantage. Goalkeeper Jackson Gardner made a pair of stops, and five members of TRU scored from the penalty spot, including Domenico Comita with the all-important winner in the seventh round of the shootout to send TRU to the historic victory.

Justine Lalande scored the game’s only goal in the 75th minute to lead the Montreal Carabins to a 1-0 victory over the Laval Rouge et Or in the gold medal final of the 2022 U SPORTS Women Soccer Championships presented by Groupe Océan in Quebec City. It is the second time that Montreal’s women soccer program wins the Gladys Bean Trophy. The Carabins rushed the opposite zone in numbers in the 75th minute to break the scoreless tie. The tournament’s MVP Mégane Sauvé sent the ball on the left flank to Justine Lalande, who took her time to put the ball to the left of Laval keeper Myriam Labrecque. This marks the end of an incredible season for Sauvé who also won the RSEQ Player of the Year Award. The Carabins win a sixth U SPORTS medal (two gold, three silver and a bronze). Their previous title was captured in 2017. Bronze medallists in 2021, the Rouge et Or also wins a sixth medal in program history and a first silver (two gold and three bronze). The last time the tournament was played in Quebec City in 2014, Laval won its first national title.