Steel welcome home playoff game
The Lethbridge Steel women’s football team has earned the right to have a hometown crowd behind them for a post-season game.
That will take place Saturday at 2 p.m. at the University of Lethbridge Stadium as the Steel face the Edmonton Storm in the quarter-final of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.
Following a 3-1 regular season that landed them the second seed in the Western Conference — and the playoff home date that comes with it — the Steel will have a few familiar faces in the stands backing them up.
However, the women’s squad has also earned the trust of another group, this one on the sidelines.
As the Steel look to make it two wins in a row over the Storm following a 40-13 win May 19 in Edmonton, they hit the field Saturday having also earned the confidence of their coaching staff.
“Edmonton is still going to come out and they’re going to want to beat us and we’re going to want to beat them,” said Steel head coach Quintin Cheverie. “We both have film on each other and we’re going to scout each other. We know each other a little bit. It becomes a bit more challenging, but these girls have risen up to every challenge they’ve faced this year. As a coaching staff, we have all the confidence in the world in them.”
Of course, the home date helps as well.
“I think it means the world to the girls,” said Cheverie. “They don’t have to worry about any of the logistics in travelling and dealing with long bus rides. They don’t have to sleep in a different bed. It’s all of these different little things that can make a huge difference come game time, so that’s awesome. They get to play in front of their home fans, their families and their friends and having a home crowd for a big important game like this is key.”
The Steel finished tied with the Calgary Rage for first in the Western Conference at 3-1, but the Rage were awarded the first seed after beating the Steel 20-16 in the opening weekend last month.
But the Steel haven’t lost since with a win over the Storm in the third weekend and two wins over the Grande Prairie Northern Anarchy.
The Steel now look for another win over the Storm, this time in a winner-take-all format.
“I think we kind of started slow (last) Saturday (an 88-0 win over the Northern Anarchy),” said Cheverie. “We had a bye week and it’s kind of hard to get revved up, but the girls are pumped and they’re ready to go. Realistically, it doesn’t matter what we did in the regular season, it’s do-or-die at this point and they all understand that. I think it carries the momentum going into Saturday.”