The Bison women's soccer team finished their conference regular season in nail-biting fashion as they clinched a playoff spot with a 1-0 road win versus Regina on the last day of the 2017 season. The Bisons ended up in sixth place in the Prairie Division of the Canada West conference and qualified for the CW Play-In single elimination match against the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday, October 27 at Saskatchewan with first kick at 12 p.m. CT.
Manitoba is in the post-season for the third consecutive season and sixth time they have reached the playoffs in the 13 year program's history playing in Canada West.
The Bisons (4-7-3) will face the third place team in the Pacific Division and No. 8 ranked UBC (9-2-3) for the second time in the 2017 season. Both teams met in the conference regular season at UBC and the result was a 4-1 win by the T-Birds on Sat., Sept. 16/17.
The winner of the one match playoff will advance to the Canada West women's soccer single elimination quarter-finals match against host Saskatchewan on Sunday, October 29.
Manitoba is looking to defeat UBC for the first in program's history. The Bisons are 0-12-3 in regular season and 0-2 in the playoffs against the Thunderbirds so far in the last 13 seasons.
Rookie midfielder
Florin Wagner and second year midfielder
Hailey Lavarias tied for fifth in conference goal scoring with seven goals in 14 matches and Lavarias tied for tenth in CW with nine points (seven goals, two assists). Wagner was tied for eighth with two game-winning goals.
Second year goalkeeper
Justina Jarmoszko started in 12 of 14 conference games and was second with 86 conference saves, ninth in conference Save Pct. at .819, 13th in Goals Against Average at 1.67 plus tied for seventh in CW with four solo shutouts.
The Herd set a new team record with six clean sheets (shutouts) in a regular season and went 2-4-1 at home and 2-3-2 on the road during the 2017 campaign.
Bison Notes: Last season in the playoffs, the Bisons won against Calgary during Play-In match and then lost to UBC 1-0 in Select Six tournament. Manitoba's post-season record so far in the program's history is 3-6.
