Women's Soccer Huskies surge to pair of home preseason wins

It’s not often the Keyano Huskies Women’s Soccer team get to host preseason games, but they made their opportunity count with a pair of wins this past weekend.  
 
Friday, the Huskies defeated the Université de Saint-Boniface Les Rouges from Manitoba before beating the Olds College Broncos, both by 4-0 scores at SMS Equipment Place.  
 
“We have a lot of new players and a lot of new faces in different positions and we’re still waiting for some of our players to be able to play,” noted Head Coach Niels Slotboom. “We’re working with most of our team, but not all of our team. It was really good to see that we’re able to generate some offence in both games. 

“It’s nice to see the girls understanding what it takes and taking some steps forward. From game-to-game, we definitely improved as well as a whole.”  
 
Friday, the Huskies surged to a win thanks to a pair of first-half goals from Nathalie Andersson. Marissa Mestre and Rofyda Khaleel added strikes in the second half to round out the quartet of goals. Goalkeeper Wanyi McLennan-Dillabough was tested throughout the match but held firm to secure the clean sheet.  

“It felt good to start preseason the way we started it,” noted fifth-year Marissa Mestre. “I think we’re off to a good start.  
 
“We’re just working on things that we need to work on to be better during the actual season. Overall, we’ve been doing a good job.”  

Sunday, the Huskies faced a challenge from the Broncos but emerged with a 4-0 victory as well to wrap up the weekend. Mestre notched a hat trick while Andersson added her third goal of the weekend.
 
Goalkeeper Alyssa Maitland took over the net for Sunday’s match for her first Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) action, getting the shutout.  

“It was earned as well, it wasn’t just that we didn’t have to defend or anything like that,” Slotboom continued of the shutouts. “[There’s] lots of positive points for sure.   
 
“Still lots of work to do, but we’ve still got a couple more weeks before our preseason is done.”  

While the wins are a positive first step forward for the club, they're also working to fill the gap created by a large group of graduating seniors from the previous season.  
 
With the contributions by Mestre, Andersson, and Khaleel through two games, Slotboom noted that they’re an important part of this year’s team and the direction they’ll take.  

“Those three players specifically and Luca [Van Rijn], even though she’s injured, have really stepped into that leadership position and are doing it off the field, but obviously also leading by example when we play,” he added.  

The Huskies will continue their preseason this coming Sunday with a date against the SAIT Trojans in Calgary.

They’ll open the 2025-26 ACAC Regular Season on Saturday, September 6 at SMS Equipment Place, hosting the Portage College Voyageurs with kick-off at 2:00pm.