By Mark Janzen, Trinity Western University

LANGLEY, B.C. – Alberta won the Canada West bronze medal in penalty kicks, beating UBC 1-0 (8-7 PKs) Saturday afternoon at Chase Office Field.

In the ninth round of penalties, Alberta's Brooke Lang scored before Pandas goalie Rebecca Reif made the game-winning save.

The win gives the Pandas their first Canada West medal since capturing gold in 2013.

After a scoreless 90 minutes, the teams went straight to penalty kicks.

Reif finished with seven saves to earn the clean sheet victory, while UBC's Emily Moore stopped all four shots she faced in regulation. Reif made two saves in penalties, while Alberta missed the first shot of the shootout.

"That was a very exciting game," said Alberta coach Liz Jepsen. "UBC has a lot of talent on the field, so the compete factor between the two teams was really high. I thought we might've snuck it away and had a great chance there late in the game but unfortunately didn't. But it was an exciting finish with the PKs.

After winning CW bronze in 2017 and gold in 2016 – both at Trinity Western's Chase Office Field – the T-Birds were held off the podium.

UBC finished with a 14-12 edge in penalties and a 7-4 advantage in shots on goal.

"The bronze medal is part of our journey," Jepsen said. "It would have been fantastic to make it to nationals, but it didn't work out this year. You have to continue to bring your best game every day and play this game and (the bronze medal game) is one of the hardest games to play. I think it's just part of the learning experience."

The Pandas best chances of the opening half came in the 37th minute, when Alberta sent three shots towards the goal in quick succession, but UBC managed to block all three.

UBC finished the first half with an offensive flurry, earning several chances, but, ultimately, came up shy. The T-Birds had four shots inside the last seven minutes of the half, with Reif called upon to make two saves for the Pandas to ensure the teams went into the break scoreless.

The T-Birds finished the first half with a 6-0 edge in shots on goal and an 8-6 advantage in total shots.

Alberta had a great chance to open the scoring in the 78th minute, with Morgan Corbett firing a shot on goal from 20 yards out, but it was stopped by Moore.

The last time Alberta was in the Final Four was in 2014, when the Pandas finished fourth.

The only yellow card of the match went to the Pandas Anna Dunn in the 84th minute.

-TW-