BURNABY, B.C. (CCAA) - The old story goes that you have to be good to be lucky. This proved very true for the Durham College Women's Soccer team’s opponents the last two days. Two bad breaks set the #1 seeded Langara Falcons up for a 3-1 win over the Lords yesterday and again a bad break cost DC a goal that tied the game today at 1-1 and stole the momentum right away. At this level all of the teams are very good; the Lords included. Coach Vaso Vujanovic knew it would be a battle today of two highly skilled teams.

Today, the sun was shining at the host playing site, the mountains were finally visible and the wind was minimal at kick-off time. The Lords were hungry and wanted to bring home DC's first ever Women's Soccer National Medal. This excitement and determination led to a beautiful goal by Katie Szeghalmi in the 4th minute. A great drive 6 feet off the ground and into the net from a perfect crossing pass by Amanda Durno. The Lords continued to press and just missed a quick 2nd goal against the #2 seed in Canada FX Garneau College Elans from Quebec City.

Shortly after, the Elans benefited from a scramble in the crease and netted their game tying goal; a nice goal shortly thereafter after an unfortunate communication lapse made it 2-1 Elans before the half-time whistle. The momentum switch definitely had to do with star midfielder Kirsten Bodashefsky (CCAA Player of the Month for October) who went down after a nasty collision and missed nearly 20 minutes of the first half. With the help of Kristina Bender (team Therapist), Kirsten was able to rest and regroup and get back into the game for the second half.

The second half saw FX Garneau continue with the better of the play despite a few solid Lords scoring chances. With no choice but to press up and challenge for the game tying goal, the Green and Gold were scored upon at the 78th minute. Now down 3-1 the Lords battled hard right to the end and despite 5 minutes of injury time being added, the Quebec Champions took home the National Bronze Medal.

Final score was FX Garneau 3 Durham 1.....Oh so close for the Ontario Champions of the OCAA, and no matter what highly disappointing to come so close and just miss a National medal. A valiant effort for a team that will return virtually everyone for next year and will definitely make some noise at the 2007 Nationals in Halifax, NS. Lords freshman standout defender Megan Durno continued her strong play on defense and was named Player of the Game.

For Durham, Morgan Kelly was again solid in goal and had no chance on two of the Quebec goals. Also turning in super performances were Sarah Tice, Bodashefsky, Szeghalmi and Jodi DenBok. On the down side, Lords leading scorer Brittany Micucci was virtually all but shutdown by an aggressive and quick Garneau back line; full kudos to Garneau for shutting down the top offensive frontline in the country.

The Lords end up 4th in Canada, and ironically enough lost their only 2 games of the entire collegiate season to the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country. The team finishes with a final conference record of 10-2-1. What a year indeed. 4th in Canada!!! What a year!!! Wait 'til next year!!! DURHAM COLLEGE 2006 ONTARIO CHAMPIONS!!!!!!

For complete details, info, results, and photos of the 2006 ADIDAS/CCAA Women's Soccer Nationals visit www.ccaa.ca and go to soccer page and Nationals link.

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Angela Cull
Sports Information & Marketing Officer
Durham College/UOIT Department of Athletics
T: 905.721.3111 ext 2784
f: 905.721.3117
www.durhamlords.com