While it ultimately ended one step shorter than she'd have hoped, a university soccer player from Springbank is basking in her new team's record-setting accomplishments in 2022.
Bella Geremia, an 18-year-old student-athlete from Springbank and a 2022 graduate of the Edge School for Athletes, recently wrapped up her first season on the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) women's soccer team.
And what a debut season it was, as Geremia and her teammates enjoyed a historic campaign in 2022, winning more games than any TRU WolfPack team before them, and making it to the Canada West women's soccer playoffs for just the second time in the Kamloops school's history.
The curtain finally closed on the WolfPack's 2022 campaign in the bronze-medal match to the University of Calgary Dinos. Because they lost the match 3-0, the WolfPack's season came to an end, and the Dinos advanced as the Canada West conference's third seed to the ensuing national USPORTS championships in Quebec.
Geremia noted the 2022 season didn't get off to a great start for the WolfPack, but after a pair of losses in early September, the team quickly found its footing.
“Our home-opening weekend, we had two losses. But after that weekend, we rebooted and went on a six-game unbeaten streak, which was a first for the program,” she said. “Six of those points came from two away games – against Lethbridge and Mount Royal – so that was huge for the program.”
Though she didn't see the field in the WolfPack's first match, Geremia played 65 minutes in the ensuing game at right back. Despite it being her very first experience of university soccer, she played well and earned the player of the game award.
After that accolade, Geremia was a regular player for TRU. She assisted on two goals and logged playing time in 12 games, either in the starting 11 or coming off the bench in a match's later stages.
“It was just about keeping my head down, working hard, and proving I could be on the field with the team.”
As the positive season continued, the Edge School graduate said the team's fight and grit were what propelled the WolfPack into the Canada West playoffs with a 6-6-2 record. It meant TRU set a team record for most wins, most wins in a row, most goals scored, and fewest goals conceded in a season.
“We were a pretty close team as well, so that helped,” Geremia said. “We wanted this year to be historic and proved it to be.”
Once the post-season was underway, TRU upset the odds by making it to the Canada West final four, thanks to a dramatic win over the Mount Royal University Cougars on Oct. 29.
What happened to get to the final four sounds directly from a Hollywood script: Playing against the division-leading MRU Cougars in Calgary, the WolfPack were down 3-0 after the first half, but rallied back to reduce the deficit to 3-2.
Then, TRU managed to tie it with one of the very last kicks of the game to send it to extra time.
Geremia, who was playing in her usual spot at right back, had a key role in the last-gasp goal.
“I saw my centre back – who was actually playing striker at the time – running, and she yelled ‘Pass me the ball!’ she recalled. “I just booted the ball up the field and she was lucky to get a toe on it and knock it into the net. I didn’t realize it went in until everyone started screaming.”
Because she was on a yellow card, Geremia was subbed before extra time got underway, as another yellow would have sent her off and put the WolfPack down to 10 players.
As the game went to the dreaded uncertainty of penalty kicks, she said she cheered her teammates on from the sidelines as they stepped up to the penalty spot.
“Our hearts were all beating really fast. As soon as [Allie Shiyuk] kicked the last pen and it went into the net, everything felt so surreal,” she said.
That was ultimately a highlight for the WolfPack's 2022 season, as the team's quest for Canada West gold came to an end in the semi-finals the following week. They came close but lost a heart-breaker to the Trinity Western University Spartans in overtime on Nov. 4, which knocked them out of championship contention.
According to Geremia, the narrow 2-1 loss was tough to swallow given TRU's perseverance. She noted the Spartans won it with a goal late in the second half of extra time.
“We were so close. One of the midfielders on our team had a strike and Trinity Western's goalkeeper made an awesome save,” she said. “That nicked us out of the gold-medal game. We were that close. And I feel next year we can be even closer.”
While the WolfPack still had a chance to qualify for the USPORTS national championships as Canada West's third seed, their quest to do so ended with the aforementioned bronze-medal defeat to the Dinos.
“We played hard, it just wasn’t the performance we wanted,” she said of the 3-0 loss.
But a week removed from the season's unfortunate conclusion, Geremia said TRU's players are already thinking of the 2023 season. With a young roster, she said there will be plenty of positive momentum to build off of.
