www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, August 14, 2014 | 32 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" McNicoll, Canada advance to U-20 World Cup quarters by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor Kinley McNicoll can feel the momentum growing, both on and off the pitch. The Oakville native and her Canadian teammates qualified for the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Tuesday with a 1-0 victory over North Korea DPR in front of 13,031 fans at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Canada, which finished second in Group A with a 2-1 record, will face Group B winner Germany Saturday in Edmonton. "Going into the tournament, we said we wanted to make it to the quarters," McNicoll, the Canadian captain, said yesterday morning before boarding a charter flight to Edmonton. "Reaching this goal against one of the top women's teams in North Korea (the tournament champion in 2006) was really emotional for a lot of us... Everyone's super proud of each other and we're glad to advance." Halfway through Canada's second game of the tourKinley McNicoll Canadian U20 soccer captain nament, advancing to the quarter-finals seemed little more than a dream. Canada, which lost its opening game 1-0 to Ghana Aug. 5, trailed Finland 2-0 at halftime Friday. But Canada exploded for two goals in the first five minutes of the second half, then scored again in the 80th minute to pull out a 3-2 win and keep its hopes of advancement alive. Tuesday, Janine Beckie scored in the 65th minute and The past two games, I think this team has redefined resilience. Canadian captain Kinley McNicoll celebrates one of her team's goals in a 3-2 victory over Finland Friday in Toronto. Canada also defeated North Korea DPR 1-0 Tuesday in Montreal to advance to the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. | photo by Eric Riehl -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Canada survived some late pressure from North Korea to clinch a playoff spot. McNicoll credited her entire team for its mid-tournament turnaround. "We heard things from Andrew (Olivieri, the head coach, at halftime). I said a few things. And the players who weren't on the field, the players on the bench, played a huge role for us. We were all kinda down, and they were all screaming at us to pick our heads up," said the White Oaks high school grad, who is entering her junior season at the University of Wisconsin. "We just worked as hard as we could in the second half of the Finland game. That's what got us the win. Just pure passion and desire to win." In Edmonton, Canada hopes to play in front of its biggest crowd of the tournament. Approximately 15,000 attended the team's game against Ghana and another 16,000 fans watched the victory over Finland. Both of those contests were played at Toronto's National Soccer Stadium (BMO Field). "I don't want to say we've shocked the nation, but we've certainly raised awareness and I think people see we're on to big things... We saw somewhere that 15,000 tickets have already been sold (for Saturday's quarter-final)," said McNicoll. "I'd definitely say we're the underdog going in, but you see that all the time in soccer. We're super optimistic going into this game, and we're going to leave everything on the field. "The past two games, I think this team has redefined resilience." OAKVILLE SOCCER CLUB Soccer players win provincial title with Saltfleet Oakville residents Megan Nixon and Samantha Hayes helped their Saltfleet Explosion girls' under-15 soccer team win gold at last weekend's Ontario Summer Games in Windsor. Top-ranked Saltfleet Samantha Hayes went undefeated at the Games, allowing just one goal. The Explosion defeated King City 3-0 in the final, which doubled as the Ontario Cup championship game. Week Twelve Photo Contest Winner: Photographer: Matthew Quattrociocchi Age Division: U6 Sponsored by: Oakville Beaver A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club Nixon, the female athlete of the year at Loyola high school, scored twice for Saltfleet during the tournament. Hayes, an Iroquois Ridge high school student, scored three times at the Games. Megan Nixon Both players are honour students who played with the Oakville Soccer Club's 1999-born A team before joining the Saltfleet club.