A pair of goals in the final fifteen minutes of play was just enough to garner a berth at provincials for the Cambrian Golden Shield women's soccer team.
Trailing 2-1 in their crossover game on Saturday with the Redeemer Royals, the homeside capitalized on a net front bounce in the 75th minute, as Prezzley Hutchison tapped it home before Kaitlyn Pressley found the far corner in the 84th minute, driving hard off the wing to give Cambrian the 3-2 win.
After Grace Cranston opened the scoring very early for the northern squad, Redeemer answered with Esther DeHaan tying the contest before half, burying a penalty kick. The Royals grabbed their first lead of the match midway through the second half when Avery Johnston sailed a ball perfectly beyond the reach of keeper Laura Hill and just under the crossbar, putting the Cambrian season on the line.
"Mentally, this was a very stressful game, so we had to come together and support each other," noted 18 year old freshman Claire O'Grady.
"Offensively, they move the ball pretty quickly. It was a matter of us being aware and being there."
Forced the shuffle his lineup, positionally-speaking, based on injuries and illness and the score at the time, Cambrian coach Evan Phillips had no option but to pull some of his players outside of their comfort zone.
"In today's game, I had to become more defensive, which is a bit of a challenge for me," said O'Grady. "But I know it's part of the game that I have to learn new positions."
A very confident crew coming in, partly by virtue of securing home field advantage thanks to a six-point final weekend of play, the Cambrian women were not about to succumb to the very real challenge that Redeemer presented.
"The hunger was there to put the ball up there, to our strikers and wingers, to get that goal that we needed," said O'Grady.
All of that said, it's entirely possible their visit to provincials will be short-lived.
As the eighth seeded team in the field, the 6-2-2 Golden Shield entry draws the undefeated Humber Hawks (7-0-3) Thursday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. at Durham College, site of the OCAA playdowns.
