DiGiacomo goal pushes Dinos past Vikes

CALGARY – Sofia DiGiacomo scored in the 82^nd minute and Lauren Houghton made an incredible save in stoppage time as the University of Calgary Dinos earned a 1-0 win over the University of Victoria in the Canada West Quarterfinals Friday evening from McMahon Stadium.

A rematch of last year’s Canada West Semifinal that finished with a 1-0 win by the Vikes, the Dinos were dominant in this one and finally found the back of the net before hanging on late.

“I think this result was well deserved,” Calgary head coach Diogo Raposo said. “We were good in the run of play, good in transition, really managed them for the most part. Things got a little bit more open in the second half. There were a few more chances that we maybe should have scored, but took advantage of our set piece and Lauren made a huge save in the end to keep this one-nil.”

Despite a 12-3 edge in shots in the first half for Calgary – including 7-0 in shots on goal, the game remained scoreless at halftime. 

Things started to open up in the final 45 minutes. 

Raina Hagel fired a shot from just outside the box in the 72^nd minute for the first shot on goal for the Vikes, but Houghton was there for the save.

Moments later, it was Calgary on the front foot. With numbers in the box, the Vikes looked to have cleared the threat, only to see Jaden Tomaszewski one-time the ball over a leaping Jaine McKenna and clang off the crossbar.  

The Dinos finally broke through after drawing a foul just steps from the corner flag. Kaleigh Major perfectly floated the ball to the backside of the post, where DiGiacomo skied over the defence and headed it back across the face of goal to finally break the deadlock.

“This was a gritty game. In playoffs, it so often comes down to set pieces,” DiGiacomo said. “Defensively we were stellar on those and just happy to get on the end of it on ours.  

“Kaleigh played it in. She’s so consistent with her free kicks. I knew I needed to create separation from my player, get over it and hit the net.”

As Calgary looked to ice this one away, Victoria had other plans. Claire Nicholas started the play by bringing the ball into the attacking area on the far side of the field. She turned on the jets, got to the endline and centered a pass. A teammate got a foot to the ball and redirected it toward goal, where Brianne McLeish was there for what looked like a tap in, but Houghton came diving across the face of goal for one of the saves of the year in U SPORTS.

“This was good team performance,” Houghton said. “We got our goal on a set piece from our most dynamic player – our most reliable player – she always finds a way. And then glad I could play my part right at the end and keep it going, but it was a really good team performance.

“I knew in the dying minutes I had to follow the ball. My player had stepped out and I knew I needed to get across. Luck was on my side – she kind of shot it at me, but I was able to get across and make the save.” 

The Dinos now advance to the semifinals for the second consecutive season, where the will take on Trinity Western with a time and location still to be determined by Saturday’s results.