Cambrian looks to 'keep building' with OCAA appearance
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Ashley Nollner and her Cambrian College teammates surprised many in college soccer circles this season, including Nollner herself, by punching a card to the OCAA women’s championship tournament.
“We weren’t supposed to make it,” said the second-year midfielder, a Mississauga, Ont. native. “Nobody really thought that we’d make it to provincials this year, because we’re rebuilding, so it kind of surprised us all, but the hard work paid off throughout the season.”
After dropping their first two contests in September, by a combined score of 8-0, the Golden Shield rebounded for a pair of 1-0 wins and stayed near the .500 mark from then on, finally clinching a trip to OCAAs with a crossover victory over Sir Sanford Fleming this past weekend.
The locals boarded a bus Wednesday for Toronto, where they’ll open the provincial tourney on Thursday against the host Seneca Sting. Game time is 4 p.m.
“It’s kind of nerve-wracking,” laughed Nollner, just prior to a recent practice.
But though the setting might be different, she hopes the Cambrian players will stick to the game-by-game approach that served them so well during the regular season.
“We just kept going and going,” she said. “We didn’t look too far ahead of ourselves, took it one game at a time.”
With another chuckle, Nollner said Cambrian, which has nine rookies on its 20-woman roster, is still very much an underdog among the likes of Fanshawe, Seneca, Humber and Durham, not to mention Algonquin, three-time defending champion and the Golden Shield’s nemesis at previous OCAA events.
It’s certainly a change from recent seasons, when the team entered the championship as a clear-cut contender.
“We’re going to have to be very defensive and really capitalize on our opportunities when attacking,” Nollner said.
Coach Evan Phillips admitted provincials “weren’t exactly the plan from the beginning,” but he’s pleased to have helped lead another Cambrian entry to a place among the top eight in Ontario.
“Once we got halfway through the season, we realized playoffs were a possibility and we set that goal for our team,” Phillips said. “They performed, stepped up to the challenge and we had a good crossover game and we did our job in the crossover game. Now we’re here and looking forward to Seneca on Thursday.
“We’re going in there with a huge rookie class, but we’re what we’re looking for is let’s perform, let’s get experience and let’s build. Whatever happens happens. We’re always trying to go out and win a game, but we don’t want to set the expectations too high, because it’s Seneca, they’re hosting, they’ve lost one game this year in the crossover, so you have to respect that.”
Defender Kaitlin Houben said the team has developed chemistry quickly, despite so many new faces.
“We have lost a lot of key players from last year, but so far, that hasn’t meant much, because once again, we’re headed to provincials,” said Houben, a Capreol native and fourth-year member of the squad. “We just need to keep meshing and to keep going and show we made it there for a reason.”
She pointed to Julia Jajkowska, a Sudbury product and first-year forward whose offence has made up for at least part of what the Shield lost with Tiffany Johnson’s graduation, as an example of a youngster stepping up.
“She has definitely contributed to our winnings,” Houben said.
While he has stepped back from head-coaching duties in favour of a mentor’s role, longtime leader Giuseppe Politi has remained an integral part of the team this season, which is likely his last with the program.
Phillips would love to extend Politi’s run with Cambrian as long as possible.
“A lot of these girls and me and the other staff have been around Joe for five, seven, 10 years,” Phillips said. “We can’t wait to give him a proper send-off, which is maybe getting into the final four, maybe not, but either way, getting to provincials was definitely something we wanted to do for him, as a program.”
For results and stats from the OCAA women’s soccer championship, visit www.ocaachampionships.com/championships/wsoc/2018-19.
Twitter: @ben_leeson
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