SUDBURY, Ont. – After an extended absence from the OCAA championship, the Durham College women's soccer team was knocked out of the 2017 championship on Friday, but were left hungry to get back and be better.
 
They opened the 2017 Belairdirect OCAA Women's Soccer Championship with a 2-0 loss to the Fanshawe Falcons on Thursday, before being eliminated 4-2 by the St. Clair Saints in the first game of Day 2 of the tournament on Friday.
 
Natassha Hassenstein (Oshawa, Ont.) opened the scoring in the ninth minute mark of the match, but right away Cassie Nicholas evened it up for St. Clair.
 
Durham fell behind on Melanie Jubenville's goal with 10 minutes to go in the opening half, a lead that held into the break.
 
At the 60-minute mark of the match Aaryn Scott (Whitby, Ont.) tied it again for the Lords, but two minutes later Cassandra Rose-Medeiros reinstated the Saints lead.
 
St. Clair all but closed out the game in the 70^th minute with Nicholas' second of the match, as the Saints won the consolation semifinal 4-2.
 
"No question, we wish we could have done more at the tournament, even though it has been awhile since the women's team has been to a provincial championship," said head coach Alex Bianchi. "The experience is invaluable and will serve us well in the future. When you look at everything as a whole and consider where this team was a year ago when we took it over, where it is today and where we believe the team can be in the future; coach (Karen) Michalicka and I are extremely proud with this group. They have a better understanding of what they need to do as a team and as individuals in order to constantly compete with the top programs in the province. It was great to be in Sudbury and we appreciate the support from everyone at Durham that we received."
 
This year was the first time the Lords appeared at the OCAA championship, which was a final four format until 2015, since Durham College won silver in 2009. The Lords had missed the championship only five times in program history prior to 2009, but up until this year had been absent from the last eight provincial tournaments.
 
Bianchi was Durham's interim head coach during the second half of the 2016 season and this was his first full season with the Lords women's soccer program.
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Overall Record: 9-7-2
Conference Record: 7-3-2