Weekend Recap - Week 3

Week 3 of the ACAC season saw Thunder Soccer and Thunder Golf in action as both teams looked to continue their early success on the season. Here’s what’s happened this past weekend:

Golf

Thunder Golf is currently at Alberta Springs Golf Resort battling for an ACAC Championship. Going into Monday, the mixed golf team holds a two stroke lead for first place, the women's team holds a commanding first place lead, and the men's team sits in second overall. Individually, Lauryn Psutka keeps up her stellar play and remains in first place in the women’s group, while Ella Gifford sits in 2nd place, only two strokes off Psutka. On the men’s side Hayden Prins currently sits in 3rd, with rookie Evan Couch right behind him in fourth individually. The championship tournament is ongoing, with rounds today and tomorrow to crown this years ACAC champions.

Soccer

Thunder Soccer had a road trip to Grande Prairie this past weekend, facing the Northwestern Polytechnic Wolves on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday brought two big wins for the Thunder, both with identical 3-0 scores. Thunder women’s soccer had big days from Abigael Burton, Vanessa Pietramala, and Emma Ward, who scored one goal each. It was a dominant win for the CCAA nationally ranked women's team, as they put up a ridiculous 16 shots on goal against the Wolves in game 1. Madison Kempster continued her strong play in goal, posting another shutout. Saturday for men’s soccer saw the team find the back up the net more times than any game so far for them this season. Cameron Holman got the team going with their first goal of the game, while Carlos Echeverria potted the next two goals, pushing the game out of reach for the Wolves. Goalkeeper Rosty Leha got his first shutout of the season, stopping five shots. 

Sunday was a continuation of the same for the women’s team, as the Thunder beat the Wolves 3-0 yet again. Another 16 shots were put on net again in this game, making the 32 shots on goal this weekend the most shots the women’s team has put on goal in one weekend this year. Vanessa Pietramala stole the show as the 2023 CCAA Player of the Year scored a hat-trick, recording all three goals for the Thunder on this day. Taytum Busch got the start in goal for the Thunder and got her first shutout of her ACAC career, stopping five shots. Men’s soccer had a different result on Sunday, finishing the game in a 1-1 tie vs. the Wolves. Cameron Holman was the lone scorer for the men’s team, scoring his second goal of the weekend. The Thunder kept the pressure up all game with 10 shots on net, but Wolves keeper Evan Doerksen kept his team in the game.

After the weekend, Thunder women’s soccer sits at 5-0 on the season and are the only undefeated team left in the North Division. Men’s soccer is now at 2-2-1, good for 4th place in the ACAC North Division. Coming up, Thunder soccer only plays on Sunday as they travel to Lakeland College to face the Rustlers on Sunday September 29th.