Broncos clinch place in ACAC South play-in game

The Olds College Broncos took care of business on home field, defeating the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings 6-2 at Richardson Pioneer Field in Olds on Friday.

Tiona Paton paced the Broncos (5-4-2) with a hat trick, while Mirtalem Vriend scored twice and Shawnessy Mark scored her first of the season for Olds College, who clinched the second spot in Tuesday's ACAC South play-in game, where they will either travel to play SAIT or Red Deer Polytechnic.

Hanna Orge and Hanna Boyce had the goals for the Vikings (4-7-0), who were officially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.

Both keepers were busy, with Kaia Galuska stopping nine shots for the Broncos and Sofia Ovcharenko turning aside 11 shots for Augustana.

It was a wild start to the high-stakes matchup, with Orge putting the Vikings up 1-0 in the seventh minute, only for Vriend to head home a Kassidy Kelly free kick two minutes later to level the score at 1-1.

From there, play tightened up a bit before Paton put Olds College up 2-1 in the 27th minute. However, Boyce provided the quick answer for the Vikings in the 34th minute to even things up once again.

The deadlock was short-lived, however, as in the 36th minute, Paton took a through ball from Alex Fortney and slotted it past Ovcharenko to give the Broncos a 3-2 lead, with Mark extending the advantage with a flick over Ovcharenko's head right before halftime.

From there, the Broncos tightened up defensively, and Paton completed her hat-trick midway through the second half before Vriend further iced the game in the final 10 minutes.

Both sides will wrap up their regular seasons tomorrow, with Olds College heading north to battle the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens at noon, while the Vikings will welcome the SAIT Trojans to Camrose for a 1 p.m. kickoff.