LANGLEY, B.C. – The Trinity Western women's soccer team captured its second straight Canada West championship, beating Calgary 1-0 in the gold medal match Saturday at Chase Office Field.

With Rachel Hutchinson scoring the game-winner in the sixth minute, the Spartans earned their eighth Canada West championship in program history. 
Fifth-year Rachel Sydor made six saves to earn the clean sheet and the victory.

Playing in their eighth consecutive Canada West gold medal match, the Spartans scored early and then held off a Dinos side that finished the night with a 6-5 edge in shots on goal.

The Spartans and Dinos will now both move on to play in the U SPORTS Championship, starting Thursday in Ottawa. The tournament seeding and schedule will be announced Sunday.

The loss snapped the Dinos' remarkable 15-match winning streak, dating back to their very first game of the regular season and came just a day after a draining, emotional semifinal win over UBC where the Dinos played a player short for nearly 70 minutes and scored the game-winner in the 87th minute.

"I was worried about finding a way to compete after a draining day yesterday," said Troye Flannery, head coach of the Dinos. "This group is special - we didn't get what we wanted here tonight, full credit to Trinity Western, this is the lion's den. We went toe-to-toe with them for 90-plus minutes. We had some great looks, we hit the crossbar, had one cleared off the line... they are the No. 1 team in the country, and I can proudly and confidently say that we're right there with them."

Playing without CW Player of the Year Seina Kashima for the second straight game, TWU opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Hutchinson converted a rebound from inside the six-yard box. After Danae Derksen sent in a cross off the right side, TWU's Jenaya Robertson's shot was blocked, but it was Hutchinson knocking home the loose ball.

The Dinos nearly equalized in the 16th minute when Jordan Smith put a header off the crossbar.

Calgary had another close call in the 22nd minute when Maddison Fritze had a clean look on goal from 20 yards out but TWU's Sydor came up with the save.

With the course of play silting towards the Dinos side, the visitors finished the first half with an 11-7 edge in total shots. Calgary also had six shots on goal to TWU's three.

The second half saw the Spartans defensive line keep the Dinos largely at bay as TWU didn't allow a single Calgary shot on target in the second half.

After Calgary's 11-shot first half, the Dinos were held to just one shot in the second half.

The Dinos don't have much time to dwell on the setback, with the national tournament just five days away at the University of Ottawa's Gee-Gees Field.

"We're going to hit reset," said Flannery, "and we're going to go to Ottawa and we're going to chase what we were here to do from day one."

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