College is now under way, students including student-athletes are getting back into their daily routines of going to school and playing their respective sports.

Now, Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s soccer team are one of many ACAC soccer teams to start its season.

Soccer kicked off in Lethbridge at the collegiate level on Saturday, Sept. 8 where Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s soccer team battled SAIT Trojans.

Before the game started, it was an emotional introduction as Payden Olsen, Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s soccer rookie of the year and lawnmower accident victim, joined the team on the sideline and was introduced as one of the starters.

Olsen was mowing the lawn at her farm in Cardston, AB when the lawnmower got caught on the swing set causing her to be thrown off.

The lawnmower drove over top of her legs.

Olsen had to get her right leg amputated from the shin down and with grafting the surgeons were able to repair the damage of her left leg.

For Olsen it was an emotional time watching people play a game she has loved all her life. However, it was also sad for her when she would see a player go down or get subbed and wish she could take that girl’s feet and go play with everything she has.

“I wonder if I will ever be able to play like I did before. I wish I could have played one more game.”

Sean Carey, head coach of Lethbridge College Kodiaks women’s soccer team, said she looked very excited to be on the bench watching the girls play.

“She was cheering on the team the whole time. I even heard her giving the girls encouragement from the sidelines.”

The Kodiaks would end up giving up two goals in the first half and in the second half the Trojans would add an extra insurance goal making the final score 3-0.

Kodiaks rookie defender, Allie Morrison, believes the team played well under pressure considering the Trojans are one of the best teams in the province, according to Carey.

“The defensive line and everybody worked well together. And in the second half, we started to play more as a team.”

Morrison added playing at a high level youth of soccer in Calgary didn’t help lower the pressure as she explained college is more physical and aggressive then the level of soccer she played at.

Carey believes the team needs to be better at distributing and being stronger on the ball.

“We gave the ball away too cheaply which just invited SAIT to come and attack us.”

But on the positive side, once the team gave the ball away the women worked hard to gain position back again, according to Carey.

The Kodiaks didn’t just lose the match, they also lost Meagan Judge, a key centre midfielder, to a concussion she sustained the night before at training.

Carey and Morrison both said Judge will be missed as centre midfielders are the key and the engine of the team.

Judge is currently still going through concussion symptoms which means she can’t start the recovery process.

The Kodiaks would end the opening week of the season on the positive side with a 1-1 draw against Olds College Broncos. Aimee Santangelo, Kodiaks defender, and Christine Moser, Kodiaks midfielder, both earned themselves the player of the game award this weekend.