A day after an emotional, and lengthy, semifinal win, the Capilano Blues didn’t have enough left in the tank to overcome the top-seeded Vancouver Island University (VIU) Sunday in the gold-medal final, a 1-0 decision for the Mariners.

Still, the Blues are headed on to the CCAA Women’s Soccer National Championship as tournament host. VIU will be going as the top seed from the PACWEST.

On Sunday, the Blues were trying to bounce back after needing 30 minutes of extra time plus penalty kicks to get past Douglas College in the semifinal. In addition to that, they were playing into a strong headwind in the first half of the final against the Mariners and had a tough time sustaining possession in the attacking half of the field.

VIU’s Jade Dillabough, who would go on to be named Tournament MVP, converted a feed from Asuka Okabe in the 35th minute for the only scoring of the game.

Capilano’s best chance to equalize was midway through the second half when Maya Smith ripped a shot from the area that just cleared the cross bar.

Amaya Salvino, one of the Blues heroes from Saturday’s semifinal win for her work in penalty kicks, kept the Blues in the game for all 90 minutes, making multiple difficult saves in each half. She went on to take the Tournament Top Goalkeeper award after the game ended.

Now, the Blues set their sights on hosting the national championship tournament, which will be Nov. 6 to 9 at the CapU Squamish campus.

Capilano’s first game will be on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at a time and opponent yet to be determined.