When the Providence Pilots women’s soccer team opened up their training for the 2022 season, oftentimes head coach Tory Walker would be running the team through their paces, practicing set pieces.
That hard work paid off in a big way at the National Christian Colleges Athletic Conference (NCCAA) tier two national championships. The Pilots went down to Florida, and came back with a trophy, defeating the top ranked Great Lakes Christian College Crusaders 2-0 in the final.
Both goals in the match came from second-half set pieces, with a corner and free kick delivered by Laurianne Chiasson providing the difference.
Providence University College played Great Lakes Christian College in the NCCAA DII national soccer tournament on November 19, 2022. (Bradley Allweil – Providence Pilots Submitted)
“(Set pieces) were a big part of where I think we needed to grow as a team, and I’ve been preaching that to (the players) since basically week one,” head coach Troy Walker said after returning to Manitoba.
“I got buy in from them, and when it mattered in a national final, it came through.”
Ava Temple and Jordan Briggs were able to pick up the pieces inside the box to put Providence ahead in the second half.
In the semi-final, Providence needed penalties to get past the Tocca Falls College Screaming Eagles after the game finished 1-1. Goalkeeper Amalia Major stopped three of the four shots she faced to lock up Providence’s spot in the final.
“Even before the game, you could tell (Major) was confident,” Walker said.
“She played aggressively. In the shootout there was no doubt that we were going to win it. She’s that type of person. She loves the pressure, she loves the big moment and she was ready for it.”
By only allowing a single goal in the tournament and winning a penalty shootout to advance, Major was named to the all-tournament team.
“In our regional finals to get to nationals, we had to win in a shootout,” Walker said.
“I think the girls were okay with the pressure. They were excited for it. We have a group that’s so confident in each other, we didn’t really doubt. We were just excited to move on.”
Paige Heide, Chloe Jahn and Ava Temple were also named to the all-tournament team from the Pilots. Temple was also named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
At the beginning of the season, Walker promised this Pilots squad would be one of the hardest working teams around, and he said this result proved that prediction true.
“Day in and day out they continued to get better,” Walker said.
“They stayed true to the process. They continued to learn, and be okay with the process along the way… even at the highest level they continued to trust in each other, continued to find new levels of play.”
While the results on the scoreboard may have been tight, it was clear who the best team in Florida was. Providence out-shot their opponents 32-6 in the semi-final, and 13-6 in the final. The Pilots also had seven more corner kicks in the final.
“As a whole, our defensive structure was really good,” Walker said.
“Our back-line didn’t have to work that much. We had possession of the ball a lot, because when we turned the ball over, our systems were to get it back quickly.”
The Providence men’s team was not as lucky in Florida, and were unable to find a spot in the final after going 1-1 in pool play. Their final match was essentially a semi-final, with their opponents only needing a draw to go through. The Pilots would fall 1-0, coming up one game short of the final.
The women’s national championship is the program’s first in their history.
Most of the Providence soccer roster will still be kicking through the winter, playing in the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference futsal season. Futsal is a soccer-like sport played indoors on courts.