St. Croix leads Mustangs to national championship berth

Strong play from Samantha St. Croix helped the Western Mustangs women’s soccer team earn a berth to the U Sport women’s soccer championships.

St. Croix, a Wallaceburg District Secondary School grad, was key as the goalkeeper on Saturday, as the Mustangs beat McMaster 2-0 to win the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) bronze medal and earn a trip to nationals in Kingston, which begin later this week.

St. Croix made seven key saves in the Mustang net, including stopping a free kick in the first half and making a few acrobatic saves in the second half to keep the Marauders off the scoreboard. Overall, St. Croix made seven saves in the game for Western.

With the shutout, St. Croix extended her streak of shutout games to nine consecutive games. The Port Lambton native had 11 overall shutouts on the season for Western.

The bronze medal game was a good bounce back for the Mustangs, as they lost in a shootout to Queen’s on November 1. St. Croix earned the shutout in the game, which featured no goals in regulation or in the overtime.

At the U Sport nationals, Western will play Laval Rouge Et Or in the first round on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

The event features the top eight university women’s soccer teams from across Canada. Along with Western– Ottawa and Queen’s are the Ontario representatives.