WINNIPEG — The Saskatchewan Huskies will have momentum on their side when they head into the playoffs next weekend after they completed a six-point weekend while surrendering zero goals in their final two games of the regular season.
The Huskies prevailed thanks to a goal that was attributed as an own goal, with Cassidy Hayward getting the last touch on the ball after a pass from Haley Mercier, handing the Wesmen a 1-0 loss at the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex.
The victory brings the Huskies' regular season to an end with a record of 4-6-4, good enough for fifth place in the Prairie Division of the Canada West conference.
They will now get set to play the Victoria Vikes in a Canada West Play-In game that will take place Oct. 26 in Calgary, AB. A win in that contest and the Vikes would move on to face the Calgary Dinos in a Canada West Quarter-final on Oct. 28.
Madison Fordyce made eight saves and finished the season with a career-high 96, a total that led the Canada West conference and put her just outside the top 10 in conference history and third overall in program history.
Jadyn Steinhauer made six saves for her second clean sheet in as many games for the Huskies.
The Wesmen honoured Tyler Johnson in a pre-game ceremony for her four years of service to the program with Johnson graduating and moving on from soccer after this season.
The Huskies, meanwhile, are playoff bound and feeling positive after a road trip that resulted in six points off two wins. Saskatchewan handled Manitoba 3-0 on Friday night as a prelude to its victory on Saturday.
"We have a young group and have played some very, very good football and almost haven't gotten the results … even though we weren't playing well," head coach Jerson Barandica-Hamilton said. "I think this weekend we got a little bit rewarded for what we're doing. I thought tonight we weren't at our best, to be honest. This group is better than what we showed, but part of the learning curve is learning how to win games when maybe we aren't at our best, and we did that today."
Saskatchewan generated 16 shots with 10 on target, while Winnipeg had 11 shots, 10 on the mark.
