VICTORIA – Graduating senior goalkeeper Tanya Jones delivered in net to bring home the bronze for her UVic Vikes who defeated the UBC Thunderbirds with a 3-1 edge on penalty kicks in the Canada West women's soccer championship final. 

In her last university career game, Jones (North Saanich, B.C.) made two huge saves in penalty kicks to secure the bronze-medal for her team on a soggy and windy Saturday night in Victoria. Flawless in regulation time, Jones allowed just one goal in the penalty kicks.

Playing with a dislocated finger, Jones held strong throughout the game, despite being tested by UBC all-star strikers Janine Frazao (Port Moody, B.C.) and Jasmin Dhanda (Surrey, B.C.). 

The Vikes got penalty-kick goals from Jackie Harrison (Whitehorse), Lindsay Hoetzel (Victoria, B.C.) and Shannon Elder (Victoria, B.C.), while UBC had a goal in penalty kicks from fifth-year senior Taryn Lim (Richmond, B.C.).

Canada West coach of the year Tracy David commented the courage of Jones' play. 

"Tanya, she has a dislocated finger, she dislocated her finger three days ago, two days before our first game, in training" David said. "She played yesterday with a dislocated finger and today; what about the saves she made."

"And I thought she was very brave. And I thought yesterday, too, Tanya was very, very brave and courageous," David said. "It was fantastic. She was bound and determined. I think the girl was on a mission, finger or no finger. It took a lot of character."

Undeterred by a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in overtime to the Trinity Western Spartans Friday night – a loss that cost UVic a seat at the CIS nationals beginning Thursday in Toronto – Jones managed to keep her team focused on the win. 

"It's my last game ever. I have nothing left, I was just gonna give it my all, try to win for the team, win it for myself," Jones said.

Graduating senior striker Hoetzel nearly opened the scoring in the last seconds of the first half. Dragged down just outside the 18-yard box, Hoetzel took the free kick, ripping it off the crossbar just inches from the net.

After a back-and-forth battle throughout most of the first two halves, UVic had another great chance to win the game in the last minute of regulation with a great shot from Vikes striker Sarah Douglas (London, Ont.) that sailed just over the top of the crossbar. 

With the game scoreless at the end of regulation time, both teams prepared their senior players for penalty kicks (in the Canada West bronze-medal match, teams do not play extra time).

"We got lots of fresh bodies on, and I thought they really changed the energy of the game for us and our team needed that because they ran miles yesterday, the starters, so I was really happy to see our first- and second-year players doing well" David said. 

The Vikes would come out with the win in penalties after Jones shut out UBC senior Frazao and freshman Aman Shergill (Surrey, B.C.).

Commenting on the last game of her career, Jones said, "last night was a heartbreaker for us, we really wanted to go to nationals. But we didn't want to leave this season without coming out on top, at least in our last game, especially for the people graduating. It was a huge win, a huge victory for us."

SCORING SUMMARY (At Field 4, University of Victoria):

Bronze Medal Match

VIC 1 UBC 0 (3-1 on PKs)

               1     2     PK     

UBC       0     0     -0 (1)

VIC         0     0     -1 (3)

Regulation: No Scoring

PK Goals: UBC-Taryn Lim / VIC-Jackie Harrison, Lindsay Hoetzel, Shannon Elder