The St. Albert Premier Impact 1 women’s squad has racked up another win, putting them one step closer to advancing to the highest division in Alberta soccer.
The second-place Impact 1 faced off against the eighth-place Impact 3 on Tuesday night, winning the match 4-0.
Impact 1 coach Chris Spaidal said that the Impact 3 played a good game against his second-place group.
“They actually were quite well organized and well coached and kept us at bay for a good duration of the match,” Spaidal said.
The match started off with the teams keeping an even pace, but as time wore on the Impact 1 began to dominate possession. The Impact 1 had several chances in the first half, sending the Impact 3 keeper diving to catch the ball before it was able to find the back of the net.
Just before the first half wrapped up, the Impact 1 were able to net a goal after a corner kick landed in a crowd and was kicked behind the keeper.
The second half started with the Impact 1 coming out strong, giving the Impact 3 few chances to catch up. By the end of the half, the Impact 1 had racked up another three goals and kept the Impact 3 off the score sheet for the night.
“Our quality in the final third just won out and we got a four-nothing victory,” Spaidal said.
The second-place squad is gunning to unseat the top seed in the league so they are able to advance to the major league next year. The team has already applied for the spot, but they are required to win their league to officially advance to the next level of play.
Impact 1 is close but still needs to topple North West United 2, who have not lost a game this year. The North West squad has won 12 of their 13 games and finished one match with a tie.
The two squads have faced off once this season already, with the Impact 1 losing to the first-place team 3-0. The two teams will face off again on in the last regular season game of the year on Aug. 7 in a battle for the first-place spot.
North West already has a major league team in their soccer club and Spaidal said that during the year, they regularly have their major league players play down with their premier team.
“When we played them the first time, it was before the transfer deadline and it was a very, very tough lineup to play against,” Spaidal said.
Spaidal is hoping that the St. Albert Impact 2 squad will give the North West team a run for its money later in the season and hopefully keep a few points away from the first-place squad.
Part of what is driving the Impact 1 to success this season is the experienced crop of women playing for the club. Most of the women have been playing together for several years and play well together as a group, Spaidal noted.
“We just have a lot of veteran players who have played at a very high level previously together,” Spaidal said.
Three of the players are ranked on the league’s top scoring list with Jazmyne Mauthe netting eight goals for the season, followed by Brittany Kindzierski and Casey Paplawski, who each have seven goals this season.
“It poses threats for teams to deal with against us because we have so many players who can in fact hurt them,” Spaidal said.
Another reason the team is so successful is the players play well within the system the team runs.
“We have done a good job at identifying what our players’ strengths are and we have put them in the best position possible to have success,” Spaidal added.
The Impact 1 have five games left to play in the regular season and their next match is on Tuesday, July 10, against the seventh-place Hearts United club at Riel Park.
