Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – To think, it's already been nearly three years since the Griffins wildly celebrated on a Cape Breton night their historic first U SPORTS national championship after beating the Trinity Western Spartans in the 2021 final.
They haven't played an official match against each other since.
The Griffins and Spartans have split two "spring" season games against each other in the last two years but haven't met in regular season or playoffs.
So, in some ways, Friday's Canada West quarter-final match (6 p.m., Edmonton Scottish, Canada West TV) between MacEwan (No. 2 in the Prairie Division) and Trinity Western (the No. 3 Pacific Division seed) is the rematch they haven't yet had.
Of course, many of the faces have changed, but the fact is their rivalry was cemented forever that November night in Sydney, N.S. as the Griffins bested the Spartans 3-2 on penalty kicks.
"It's kind of been a bit of discourse within the team," said veteran forward Grace Mwasalla, one of nine Griffins currently on the roster who were also on the 2021 national championship team. "It's weird to think that the last time we played them in a competitive match was the national championship and now it's the first game of our playoff run.
"It's two really good teams in a quarter-final and it's going to be a great matchup, for sure."
MacEwan (10-1-3) garnered the most points (33) they've had since joining Canada West in 2014 (by contrast, the 2021 squad went 10-2-0). The Griffins finished just a point behind the Calgary Dinos (11-2-1) for top of the Prairie Division table.
Trinity Western (8-4-2) were passed by Victoria (7-2-5) for second in the Pacific Division on the final day of the regular season via the head-to-head tiebreaker after losing 2-0 to UBC.
The Griffins know they'll get TWU's best on Friday, though, and will need clutch performances like they had in 2021 against them when Reaghan McCarthy and Salma Kamel scored in regulation, and Erin Van Dolder, Hannah Supina and Mwasalla scored in the shootout before Bianca Castillo famously stopped Kathryn Harvey to seal the championship.
MacEwan players, including current Griffins Nicole Brodeur (19) and Grace Mwasalla (17) celebrate a goal against Trinity Western in the 2021 U SPORTS national championship final. Both teams have nine players left from the 2021-22 season (Jefferson Hagen photo).
"We still have many members of our team who were a part of that," said Griffins head coach Dean Cordeiro. "It's interesting that this will be our first real match against them since 2021. Our rookies from that (2021) taem who are vets now can pull from their experience and step up for us.
"It's going to be a great match. Two very good teams. Trinity's extremely well coached with Graham (Roxburgh) and Rob (Giesbrecht). We expect it to be a quality game on Friday that we're excited about and ready for."
The Griffins have been to the Canada West Final Four or Select Six, as it used to be called, five times since 2014 and they'll need to beat the Spartans to qualify again. They haven't been there since 2021, most recently suffering a quarter-final upset on a bitterly cold day at Clareview Field last season to Victoria.
"Last year, we were a really young team and there wasn't a lot of playoff experience," said Mwasalla, who was injured and watched from the sidelines as the Vikes won 2-0. "For everyone to get that playoff experience now it will be beneficial for us. I think we're just ready and prepared, especially with how everything ended last year."
To be at their best on Friday, the Griffins will need contributions from everyone. With as deep a roster as they've ever had, MacEwan got goals from 13 different players during the 2024 regular season, scoring 41 times in 14 games – the second-most prolific season they've had in Canada West. There is no one player for the Spartans to shut down.
"We've been doing it all season by committee, so that's the exciting thing," said Cordeiro. "We're not relying on one or two players. We've talked about some individual great seasons (in highlighting MacEwan's four all-stars Anneke Odinga, Hannah Harper, Amelia Russo and Paige Colby), but if you look at the balanced scoring within the team, it's maybe the best since I've been here.
"We need everybody to dig deep. We're going to have key contributions from multiple people. That's been who we are, in our DNA all season, so we're excited for the matchup."
