A second-half spurt from the Ahuntsic Indiennes means the TRU WolfPack’s quest for gold at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association women’s soccer championship is over.

The WolfPack lost 4-0 to the Indiennes in the opening game of the eight-team tournament in Charlottetown on Wednesday. Ahuntsic, a wild-card team that calls Montreal home, advances to the semifinals, while the WolfPack moves into the consolation round.

TRU, which was ranked No. 3 heading into the tournament, will hope to win its remaining games to take bronze. The WolfPack is scheduled to play the Atlantic-champion Mount Saint Vincent Mystics of Halifax Thursday.

“It will be a tough match,” said TRU head coach Tom McManus, in a news release. “It is a very important match. We want to medal while we are here. We were looking for gold but if we get the bronze it would still be satisfying.”

The Mystics lost 3-0 to the Alberta-champion NAIT Ooks of Edmonton on Wednesday. NAIT and Ahuntsic will meet in a semifinal.

The WolfPack, despite playing in a game that started at 6 a.m., Pacific Time (10 o’clock, Atlantic), got off to a decent start.

Ahuntsic scored the only goal of the first half, with Stephie-Ann Dadaille finding twine following a free kick.
Things fell apart for TRU in the second half, as Ahuntsic scored three goals in a five-minute stretch. Andre Carty, Jacynthe Tessier and Camille Pomerleau did the damage, and ended TRU’s gold-medal hopes.

“I think we made a couple of mental mistakes after the 75th minute,” McManus said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get enough opportunities up front and we couldn’t pull the trigger when it had to be pulled.”

In Wednesday’s other action, the Alberta wild-card Concordia Thunder defeated the Ontario-champion Humber Hawks 3-1, and the defending-champion Garneau Elans dumped the host Holland Hurricanes 7-0.

Garneau and Concordia will meet in a semifinal, with Holland and Humber playing a consolation game.