Sam Nahrgang, NAIT Athletics
EDMONTON, Alta. – The NAIT Ooks women's soccer team, led by 2018 CCAA National Coach of the Year Carole Holt, will open up their 2019 season this weekend. The Navy and Yellow will travel to Concordia University of Edmonton, to take on the Thunder on Friday at 4:00 pm.
Last year, NAIT finished the regular season perfect with a 10-0-0 record and went on to win the ACAC Championship by beating the host SAIT Trojans 2-1 in extra time. They ended up finishing 6th at the National Championship.
"Honestly, I feel like we had a very strong team – maybe the best one since I have been here (going back to 2012)," said head coach Carole Holt. "We hit some bad luck at nationals, and that is just the way it sometimes goes, so we are excited to be back and see what we can do this year."
The Ooks head into this season looking to capture their second consecutive ACAC Championship and advance to the CCAA National Championship for the tenth consecutive year. NAIT adds a few new faces including Eleni Stamatakis - the ACAC Rookie of the year in 2014, USPORTS transfer Brit Bogdane and rookie Gracie Hausch, sister of men's basketball's Sheldon Hausch.
"We have quite a few new faces so we are still working out the kinks on what will work best for us," said Holt. "I suspect the north will be strong. With a couple of new additions to our side of the conference (Portage and Lakeland), we have a couple of unknowns that we will need to navigate."
The Ooks home opener will be Saturday, September 14th, when they will host the King's Eagles at 12:00 PM.