Olympic gold medal in women's soccer an inspiration for Sask. players

The Canadian women's soccer team's gold-medal win at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday was a momentous occasion not just for the national team, but also for fans and soccer players throughout Saskatchewan.

That includes the University of Regina Cougars women's soccer team.

"It was really inspiring, especially given that our season is just around the corner. I think it'll push all of us girls to do better and push us to achieve a medal in our season," said Shayla Lukey, who has played for the Cougars team for three years. 

Canada's national team claimed the gold medal after an exciting 3-2 win over Sweden on Friday. The tight game ended with Canada outlasting the Swedes in a penalty shootout. 

Several Cougars players joined co-head coach Astrid Baecker to watch the game live early Friday morning. When the game went into overtime, they had to decide if they should keep watching or start their morning training. 

"We had to say, hey, let's just not get started quite yet. This is an important moment in Canadian history — we got to watch this," said Baecker. 

After the historic win, the group just stood together for several minutes, Baecker said, watching the Canadian team celebrating and reflecting on what the win meant for them. All eyes were on national team captain Christine Sinclair. 

"It really felt like that medal was hers, that the team worked together with her as that leader and their captain. It felt like they were going to go out with this big last hurrah for her," said Baecker. 

Player Kyra Vibert, 22, watched the game at home with family. She said that it was a hugely important moment for women's soccer, which deserves a lot more attention than it gets.

"I love soccer. It's just to my core. That's what I have in my life and that's what I love," Vibert said. 

This will be her last year playing for the University of Regina team, and she said the win gives her something to look forward to.

"It just means everything to me. I want to go as far as I can as a player, and wherever that takes me I'll be happy."