The University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's soccer team fell to the Calgary Dinos 3-1 in U SPORTS semi-final action on Saturday, November 9 in Victoria.

With the loss, the Blues move on to their first bronze-medal matcb in program history. 
 
Schedule & Results
USPORTS.LIVE
 
WHAT HAPPENED: Both teams were comfortable showcasing their skill, moving the ball up the field from the opening whistle. Calgary's aggressive play in the first 25 minutes resulted in several corner kicks that had Toronto keeper Levana Staggolis stifling any threat that came her way.
 
Possession continued to favour the Dinos as Montana Leonard finally broke the deadlock in the 44^th minute to put the Dinos in the lead after a three-pass play from her teammates.
 
Not to be outdone, Toronto's Miranda Badovinac scored a minute later on the end of Second Team All-Canadian Jenny Wolever's run down the left flank. Wolever used her speed to evade a defender and slid the ball across the six-yard box where Badovinac was there to finish the goal.
 
The second half started much like the first, with Calgary playing a patient passing game and Toronto countering with speedy runs by Badovinac and Wolever. The Dinos broke through in the 58^th minute after Sienna Prince-McPherson placed a pass to Leonard, who put it past the keeper to take the lead for the second time.
 
Toronto began to push for the equalizer with pace but Calgary was happy to slow the pace down and work hard defensively. Toronto continue to thread passes together and Calgary continued to chase.
 
In perhaps the biggest save of the game, Rachel Barlow seemed to catch Staggolis off her line in the 85^th minute only to see her recover and keep the ball from crossing the line.
 
"They definitely sat back a little more after their second goal and played more defensively," said Badovinac. "It was hard for us to build an attack and get numbers in the box because so many of them were back on defence."
 
With the Blues pushing, Calgary had a two-on-two breakaway with Kelsie MacDonald sending a pass to Leonard for her third goal of the game to seal the victory.
 
"We can definitely learn from this game," said Badovinac. "We are going to have to fight for it tomorrow and hopefully we can earn the bronze. We worked really hard to get here. We want to earn something." 
 
Boxscore
 
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CGY: Montana Leonard
TOR: Miranda Badovinac
 
UP NEXT: The Varsity Blues will play the Acadia Axewomen in the bronze medal game at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT.
 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
 

2019 U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championship
University of Victoria
(All Times Local)
 
Thursday, November 7
10:30am               Acadia 2, York 1                      Quarter-Final #1
1:00pm                 UBC 1, Montreal 0                  Quarter-Final #2
4:00pm                 Toronto 3, Cape Breton 0        Quarter-Final #3
6:30pm                 Calgary 1, Victoria 0                Quarter-Final #4
 
Friday, November 8
1:30pm                 Montreal 2, York 0                     Consolation Semifinal #1
4:00pm                 Victoria 1, Cape Breton 0          Consolation Semifinal #2 
 
Saturday, November 9
12:30pm               UBC 1, Acadia 0                         Semifinal #1
3:00pm                 Calgary 3, Toronto 1                   Semifinal #2 
 
Sunday, November 10
10:00am               Consolation Final (Montreal vs Victoria)
12:30pm               Bronze-Medal Match (Acadia vs Toronto)
3:00pm                 Gold-Medal Match (UBC vs Calgary)

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