The fall of 1990 marked the pinnacle of a half-decade or more of unparalleled success for women’s soccer at Acadia. In capturing the elusive CIAU national intercollegiate championship – the first Atlantic Canadian school to do so in women’s soccer – the Axettes erased the disappointment of near-misses at nationals in the previous two seasons. Beginning in 1987 when women’s soccer was officially sanctioned by the Atlantic conference as a varsity sport, Acadia captured five consecutive conference championships. The Axettes were national runners-up in 1988 and national semi-finalists in 1989 on their home field, setting the stage for what would hopefully be even greater successes in 1990. To an already impressive core of talent, anchored by the likes of all-star keeper Alison Tuton, veteran defender Wendi Wells and scoring forward Dara Moore, coach Laura Sanders had added another potential impact player in first-year student Cindy Montgomerie (now Cindy Tye), who would end up being named the conference Rookie of the Year

The Axettes breezed through the regular season with a record of 12 wins and no losses, setting a new national record with 52 goals scored. Defensively, the team allowed just one goal against all season, establishing another national record for best defensive performance. Not surprisingly, Acadia entered the playoffs ranked number one in the country, a position they had managed to hold all season.

The team had plenty of scoring punch, but the overall accent on defense allowed the Axettes to win the close matches when they were unable to score many goals. In playoff semifinal action, Acadia defeated Mount Allison 1-0 to advance to the conference final against their arch-rivals, the Saint Mary’s Huskies. Again, the final score ended up 1-0 in Acadia’s favour, with Marjean Leighton scoring the lone goal and Tuton, as she had pretty much all season, providing shutout goalkeeping. Acadia moved on to host the national semifinal on home turf at Raymond Field, with the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks providing the opposition. On a cold and rainy Sunday in front of 400 spectators, regulation time ended with the score tied 1-1, thanks to a late goal from Cindy Montgomerie. In extra time, the AUAA champs prevailed 5-4 in penalty kicks, scoring on all five of their penalty shot attempts. Dara Moore had the winning marker. The Axettes then travelled west to British Columbia, where the national final was played Sunday, November 17 on Todd Field in Vancouver. Acadia’s number one national ranking was balanced out by the Western Canada champion UBC Thunderbirds holding a perceived ‘home field’ advantage.

As had been the case in the semifinal, regulation time solved nothing in terms of a victor. Neither did a pair of scoreless 15-minute overtime sessions before the Axettes finally prevailed 4-2 on penalty kicks to capture Acadia’s first national banner in women’s soccer. Once again, Moore had the winning goal, with Leighton, Kyran Pinfold and Montgomerie also scoring. Tuton, a first team All-Canadian selection (and later voted Acadia’s 1990-1991 Female Athlete of the Year) was sensational in goal. (For the season, Tuton ended up with 14 shutouts in 16 games). Bridget Anakin earned the Gunn Baldursson Memorial Award as the Most Valuable Player of the national final. Wendi Wells was named a second team all-Canadian, and coach Sanders, several times the AUAA’s top women’s soccer coach, was honoured as the CIAU Coach of the Year. The 1990-1991 national champion Axettes were inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. Since then, coach Laura Saunders, Wendi Wells, Dara (Moore) Ramirez, Cindy (Montgomerie) Tye, Alison Tuton and Bridget Anakin from that championship team have been inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame as individual athletes or builders. In addition, Cindy Tye has been inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame as an individual athlete

Written by John Decoste