Huskie Alumni qualified for the 2009 BMO National Championships today with a 4:0 win in the Saskatchewan Premier Soccer League final. Huskie Alumni is the second club to qualify for the Challenge Trophy competition which will be held in Saskatoon, SK this October. Huskie Alumni won 4:0 over ACFC Milan of Regina.

'Everyone had a hand in (our championship), everyone made an effort,' said Huskie Alumni head coach Stewart Gillott.

Huskie Alumni reached the final after finishing first in the regular season with seven wins, two draws and no losses. The team allowed just one goal all season long: Colo Colo’s Todd Fredrickson holds the distinction of scoring that lone goal. Of Huskie Alumni’s 34 goals scored, Jordan Schidlowsky scored a team-best 11 goals during the three-month season (May to July).

Schidlowsky added three more goals to his resume in the final. Nathan Reis, meanwhile, scored the opening and winning goal in the final. Goalkeeper Jeff Dobchuk posted the clean sheet.

The game was close throughout the first half. ACFC Milan had a chance to open the scoring with a shot from the penalty spot in the 24th minute, but the visitor was unable to convert. Reis then opened the scoring in the 30th minute on what Gillott called a 'fortunate goal'.

In the second half, Schidlowsky made it 2-0 in the 50th minute. Schidlowsky pushed up past the centreback and beat the opposing goalkeeper with a chip shot. After that goal, Gillott says 'it looked like the petrol was running out for ACFC Milan.'

For the final, Huskie Alumni awaited the winner of the ACFC Milan-Yorkton United semi-final match, held just one day earlier in 35-degree weather. That semi-final went 120 minutes plus penalties before ACFC Milan advanced to the Sunday final.

Schidlowsky scored in the 66th minute after he was sprung in one-on-one to make it 3-0. Schidlowsky then completed the hat trick in the 79th minute with a 'spectacular goal' in which he volleyed the ball past the opposing goalkeeper.

Gillott’s starting XI featured Dobchuk in goal, Jamie Hembroff, Cory Regal, Michael Veszi and Jeff Friesen on defence, Reis, Brendan Garrity, Mark Kothuis and Dwayne Gareau at midfield, and Schidlowsky and Paul Craig up front. Defender Shea O’Hare, midfielder Stephen Krieg and forward Jay Tomchuk came in after the half. Gillott picked Gareau as the player of the match.

Huskie Alumni is a new team in the Saskatchewan Premier Soccer League and will thus represent the province in the BMO National Championships for the first time. Much of the lineup, however, comes from the old Saskatoon Arsenal club which as recently as 2005 finished fourth in the Challenge Trophy competition. Ten players on Huskie United were on the Saskatoon Arsenal roster back in 2005.

Saskatoon, SK will host the 2009 BMO National Championships this 7-12 October. Saskatoon hosts both the Challenge Trophy (senior men) and Jubilee Trophy (senior women) competitions. In the men’s competition, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island are the only two provinces yet to win the national title. So far in 2009, British Columbia’s West Van FC and Saskatchewan’s Huskie Alumni have qualified for the Challenge Trophy competition. British Columbia’s Surrey United is the lone team to have qualified for the Jubilee Trophy competition.

BMO Financial Group is proud to support soccer at all levels across Canada, from grassroots to Canada’s national teams. Starting with sponsorship of more than 400 Canadian youth teams to the title support of elite youth players at the BMO National Championships, through to the professional-team support (Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC) and sponsorship of the Canadian men’s and women’s national soccer teams, BMO Financial Group is serious about Canadian soccer. For more information on BMO’s support of soccer in Canada, visit bmosoccer.com.