Tom McManus, head coach of the TRU WolfPack women's soccer team, remained cool and confident throughout the Pacific Western Athletic Association championship tournament in Squamish.

But even McManus got a little nervous during a short stretch late in Saturday's final.

The WolfPack defeated the UBC-Okanagan Heat 1-0 on Saturday to win the provincial title for the second year in a row. TRU defeated the Heat 2-1 in overtime in Kelowna in 2011.

McManus says he wasn't too worried throughout this year's tournament, even though the WolfPack was down 2-0 in its Friday semifinal with the Langara Falcons. TRU came back to win that semifinal, 5-2 in overtime.

And McManus says he was calm throughout Saturday's final. Most of it, anyway - but any uneasiness was caused by deja vu, and not much more.

"I was maybe a little worried in the last five minutes," he said Sunday. "Last year, (UBC-O) scored in the 88th minute to force overtime. They had a couple of late chances . . .

"But we played very well, and so did they."

The WolfPack will be B.C.'s representative for the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championship. This year's tournament, which will feature six teams, is scheduled for Nov. 7-10 in Charlottetown.

McManus's calmness throughout the season and during the tournament came from the confidence he has in his deep roster. The roster features a nice mix of players young and old, and the veterans did all they could to help the rookies get accustomed to college soccer.

The WolfPack's three graduating players - defender Blair MacKay and midfielder sisters Abbey and Chloe McAuley - will retire as provincial champions, but, for McManus, they're so much more.

"They're fantastic. The three of them have come out and been our leaders," he said. "They've taken the younger players under their wings and taught them so much."

Alanna Bekkering, a fourth-year midfielder, scored the goal in Saturday's final and was named the tournament's MVP for the second year in a row. Emily Edmundson was the winning goaltender, posting her sixth solo shutout of the season.

McManus, who also is the technical director for the Kamloops Youth Soccer Association, was pleased that a number of Kamloops-raised players helped out in the victory.

The WolfPack's 24-person roster features 12 products of the KYSA - including Bekkering, MacKay, Edmundson, Courtney Daly, who scored twice in overtime against Langara, and midfielder Marlie Rittinger, who grew up in Ashcroft but played her rep youth soccer in Kamloops.

"We're such a close-knit team," McManus said. "We have a lot of home-grown girls, and I think that's why we're so close.

"Marlie's from Ashcroft, but she played (youth) here, and we have a couple from Langley and other places, but other than that, we're a Kamloops team.

"I'm extremely happy about that."

Everyone involved with the WolfPack is extremely happy right now, but that doesn't mean the work is over.

When TRU won provincials last season, it was a bit of an upset, an expected triumph. That might explain why TRU finished fourth at nationals in Quebec City.

"I asked the girls last night: 'Last year, how did we feel?' " McManus said. "They said, 'So happy to be in Quebec City.' I said, 'What about the soccer?' They went, 'Uhhh . . .'

"They forgot they were there to win."

That won't be the case this year, McManus pledged.

"We're going there to win," he said. "We're not going to be sightseers or anything."

Christine Tallon, another KYSA product, was in goal for the Heat on Saturday, and was named her side's player of the game.

The CCAA championship will feature six teams - the WolfPack, the host Holland Hurricanes, the Ontario-champion Humber Hawks, Atlantic-champion Mount Saint Vincent, the Alberta-champion NAIT Ooks and the Quebec-champion FX Garneau Elans.

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The WolfPack men also came home from provincials with medals, but they weren't the colours they would have liked.

The WolfPack lost its Saturday semifinal, 4-0 to the Vancouver Island Mariners. TRU bounced back to defeat the Kwantlen Eagles 6-2 in Sunday's bronze-medal match.

Oriol Torres had three goals to lead the WolfPack on Sunday, with Jacob Kaay, Justin Smeaton and Kyle Fertile scoring the other goals.

The Mariners went on to lose 3-0 to the Douglas Royals in Sunday's championship final. With Douglas playing host to the CCAA championship from Nov. 7-10, both teams have qualified.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca