Grace Taylor Opens Scoring In Thanksgiving Series
Grace Taylor is congratulated after netting her first goal of the season to earn the Horns a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute of the game.
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns’ Womens Soccer team goes head to head against the University of Alberta Pandas in back-to-back games this Thanksgiving weekend. The Horns opened the series with their first win of the season on October 9th, with the second match coming up at 12pm on October 10th. Grace Taylor netted her first of the season to open the Horns’ scoring on the weekend, tapping a mishandled save past the Panda’s goalkeeper Cara Lang with help from Lucy Mundy and Lethbridge’s signature wind on the play. Grace met up with Lethbridge Sports to talk about getting her first point of the season.
“It feels good to finally get a result!” Grace laughs about her goal in the 7th minute of the game. “I was pretty surprised the ball went in. It was super early in the game. It was definitely rewarding to finally get a point out there after I’ve had so many chances. Nice to have one hit the back of the net.”
Both of the Horns 2 goals of the match were in early minutes of each half. “Mentally we were better prepared than previous games.” Grace says. “We wanted to defend our home field and did that. I hope we can bring the same energy tomorrow.” We asked Grace what the team needs to do to deliver another W tomorrow. “Keep doing what we’re doing,” Grace says. “The girls and Mackie and I have been working hard the last few weeks and everything’s working out and showing results now. We need to keep showing our own potential and what this team is capable of.” Grace also gives a nod to the Lethbridge weather being a factor in the match. “We’re more used to playing in the wind than UofA so we can keep using that to our advantage.”
Grace is in her 2nd year of eligibility as a Pronghorn, and is a 4th year student at UofL. Grace is planning on graduating from her Bachelor’s program next year, and is looking to stick around and do a post-grad degree to keep playing soccer. She is taking Psychology now so looking at a Masters in the same program if her academic performance allows. “I’m a really go with the flow person so think I wanna stay here and see the potential the team has.” Beyond academics and athletics, Grace has a keen interest in forensics and criminology, and hopes to apply her learnings to a career in forensics.
Grace, like most academic athletes, spends most of her time studying or playing and that doesn’t leave a lot of time for her to pursue much outside of her school career. “With everything I have a busy schedule.” She says. “My family comes from Calgary to watch my games every weekend so it’s great I get to see them. I live with a few girls from the team and we just have fun hanging out around the house. I’m a big Pittsburgh Penguins fan and love hockey when I get a chance to watch them.”
Grace credits her family for supporting her career. She draws lots of her passion and energy on the field from the knowledge that they are always in the stands and haven’t missed one of her Alberta-based games yet. Her parents are also teachers and have helped Grace succeed academically while pursuing her athletic career.
Going into tomorrow’s game, Grace is optimistic about the team’s chance. “We need to keep bringing the energy we had today. From right at the start in the change room, everyone was in really good spirits. We need to keep the energy and come out with a strong start.” Lethbridge Sports looks forward to seeing the team in action again tomorrow at 12pm at UofL stadium.
You can find all of our photos from the game here!