Coquitlam’s Kiera Scott scored the only goal the Simon Fraser University Red Leafs women’s soccer team needed to defeat top-ranked Western Washington 1-0 and win its second consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship, Saturday in Seattle.
Scott, a Centennial Secondary grad, took a pass into the goal box from teammate Alyssa Clark, who’s from Port Coquitlam, and tucked a shot with her left foot past WWU keeper Abigail Trengrove and just inside the far post.
“Alyssa and I have been playing together since we were 10 years old, and this is something we’ve been doing for years,” said Scott of her longtime teammate in the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club program. “I’m glad we finally got to bring it to university.”
Scott’s goal was her third of the tournament, after she scored twice in the Red Leafs 2-0 win over Seattle Pacific in Thursday's semi-final. She was named the tournament's most valuable player.
“We know she has that type of quality, and she is such a dynamic player in those 1v1 situations,” said SFU head coach Carlo Basso. “When she gets across the shoulder, it’s very difficult to deal with her.”
The Red Leafs’ win ended a 15-game unbeaten streak for WWU and avenged a pair of 1-0 losses to the Vikings earlier in the season
SFU now heads to the 2024 West Region DII Championships with an eye to qualifying to qualifying for the national finals that will be played in Matthews, North Carolina Dec. 13-15.
It’s the second week in a row a Centennial grad has been a hero for their university soccer team.
Last Sunday (Nov. 10), Sophia Ferreira scored the winner in extra time to lead her UBC Thunderbirds to a second straight U SPORTS championship over Laval Rouge et Or.
