The NAIT men’s soccer team is off to nationals again after winning gold at the 2025 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Soccer Championships in Lethbridge on Oct. 26.
Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams saw action at the championships. While the men won gold, the women came up just short in the final match and took home silver.
Here’s how the two teams’ weekends went and what is in store for the men.
Women overcome obstacles, come up short
The women entered the weekend 9-2-1 — nine wins, two losses and one tie — as the second seed in the North Division, narrowly missing out on the top spot. The Concordia Thunder finished 10-1-1 and received a first-round bye.
That meant the Ooks had to win three games in as many days to claim the gold medal and be crowned conference champions. For any team, and especially one that did not make the playoffs last season, this was a challenge.
NAIT’s first opponent was the host Lethbridge Kodiaks. Lethbridge finished the year 7-4-1 and proved to be a difficult challenge, but the Ooks held on for a 2-1 win.
The team followed their win with a 1-0 nail-biter victory against an undefeated SAIT Trojans team, who ranked second in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) at the beginning of the tournament.
That set the stage for a gold-medal match between Concordia and NAIT. The Ooks battled to keep the score tied 0-0 through regulation, forcing the game to a seventh round of a sudden-death shoot-out. Penalty kicks were the Ooks’ downfall, and the Thunder won 4-3.
Jyla Micael Erandio, NAIT’s lone goal scorer in the win over SAIT, said the performance in the final was “a great milestone” despite the result.
“We’re shedding tears, but it’s of joy,” the ACAC All-Conference forward said in an interview with the Nugget. “And even just where we were from last year … because we didn’t even qualify last year. And even making it to the final game, that says a lot [about] who we are as a team, so yeah, we’re honestly just more proud of where we started and how we ended off.”
Head Coach and 2025 ACAC Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year, Dhee Govender, echoed Micael Erandio’s beliefs, explaining he is “super proud” of how his team performed this season.
“I think this year was a good way to put a bit of a statement into how far we’ve come along after last year’s disappointment. And we’re hoping to build on the experience that we had here,” Govender said.
“It’s a bright future. It’s exciting to be a NAIT Ook, I can guarantee that for sure … we will be back.”
Back-to-back wins for the men
The men ended the regular season as the second seed in the North Division with an 8-0-4 record.
NAIT started the tournament off against the host Lethbridge Kodiaks, who held a record of 2-5-3 in the regular season and squeaked by the Kodiaks with a narrow 2-1 win.
The blue and gold then faced the 9-1 SAIT Trojans, who were ranked second in the national league heading into the weekend. NAIT rallied after an early goal from SAIT, thanks to a game winning goal from Jameson Keizik in the 36th minute. They defeated SAIT 2-1, setting them up to defend their 2024 ACAC gold medal.
At provincials, the stakes were high — last year saw NAIT just miss the bronze medal at nationals, so this game was their opportunity for another shot. NAIT squared off against the Medicine Hat Rattlers, and it would prove to be a tight matchup between the two teams, who are both ranked in the top 12 nationally.
However, Kiezik would end the deadlock and net the game’s first and only goal to secure the team’s second consecutive gold medal win at the ACAC championships — the first time the program has done so since 2011.
Kiezik, who scored in all three of the team’s games, credited the team for “working hard and pushing through” to get them back into the national championships in back-to-back years.
“Job’s not finished,” the forward said when asked about the team’s mentality heading into nationals. Kiezik credited his team with working hard last year, but hopes to win the national title this time around. “This year is another day for redemption, and we want to get that gold,” he said.
Head Coach and 2025 ACAC Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year, Jeff Paulus, acknowledged the shortcomings at nationals last year and the opportunity NAIT has to bring home its first soccer nationals trophy since 2011.
“For our boys to come out and put in the type of performance they did … and for the players to react the way they’ve done and to grind out these results was just incredible to watch. And yeah, so I’m absolutely delighted,” Paulus said. “Getting to nationals last year was exciting and whatnot, but we didn’t really show ourselves at nationals to our quality. So I think the messaging this year and the belief this year is going to be just based around, let’s show these other conferences what NAIT [soccer] is about.”
Next up for the men’s team is the CCAA National Men’s Soccer Championships in Saint-Lambert, Que. from Nov. 5 to 8.
Feature image by Nino Aguilar
