Bordeleau's Hat-Trick Leads NCS to Victory Over SMU
Jade Bordeleau tore through SMU with a ruthless hat-trick as NCS overpowered the Mustangs in a high-scoring, chaotic contest defined by attacking flair and defensive frailty.
This was not a slow burn. It was a barrage.
Bordeleau leads the onslaught
From the outset, NCS played on the front foot, and Bordeleau set the tone. The forward struck twice in similar fashion, each time fed by the sharp combination of Daisy Duda and Madison Casteen. NCS carved SMU open, and Bordeleau did the rest, finishing with the composure of a striker in full command of her craft.
SMU tried to respond through long-range efforts, with Kaia Samuelsen Elverum firing over from distance, but the pattern was clear: NCS had control, possession, and the more dangerous chances. Two additional goals credited to the NCS team underlined that dominance, the scoreboard tilting heavily in their favor as pressure turned into panic in the SMU back line.
Bunton keeps SMU alive from the spot
Just when the game threatened to run away from SMU entirely, Brooke Bunton dragged them back into it with pure nerve from 12 yards. Awarded a penalty, she stepped up and buried it. When SMU earned another spot kick, she repeated the act, same outcome, same conviction. Two penalties, two goals, and suddenly NCS’s grip didn’t feel quite so secure.
Still, NCS kept coming. Emily Wong went close, Bordeleau skimmed the bar, and Mana Nakata drove a series of efforts from range, one of them forcing a sharp save from goalkeeper Aubrey Brown high to her right. Brown was increasingly busy, and that told its own story.
Aoki and Bordeleau link up again
The pressure eventually cracked SMU again, and once more it was Bordeleau at the heart of it. Yuna Aoki, composed in possession and incisive with her passing, slipped her through twice, and twice Bordeleau delivered. The timing of the runs, the weight of the passes, the finishes — all of it spoke to an understanding that SMU simply couldn’t solve.
By then, NCS were flowing. Duda lashed another shot over the top, and the midfield rotated around Aoki’s calm distribution, pulling SMU’s shape apart.
Roberts joins the party
Erica Roberts then stamped her name on the game. Pushing on from midfield, she found the net with a confident strike to add yet another NCS goal. She followed that with another finish as NCS continued to swarm forward, her late runs into the box proving too difficult for SMU’s defenders to track.
Roberts might have had a hat-trick of her own. She drove a low effort toward the bottom left corner, only for Brown to get down smartly and turn it away. Moments later, Katie Richter tested Brown in the same spot, and again the SMU keeper answered, one of the few steadying influences in a back line under siege.
Noble hits back, but NCS stay in control
SMU still had a punch left. Kaylee Noble forced NCS goalkeeper Riley Pickels into a save with a firm strike down the middle, then found her range and finally beat Pickels to pull another goal back for the Mustangs. It was a clean, decisive finish, a reminder that SMU’s attack could still hurt NCS when given space.
Yet for every SMU surge, NCS found a reply. Substitute and starter rotations changed little about the pattern: Nakata kept firing from distance, Casteen and Montgomery drove at the back four, and NCS continued to dictate tempo. Nakata sent another attempt over the bar, while Bunton, searching for her hat-trick, answered with a shot of her own that sailed high.
By the final whistle, the story was clear. NCS had too much firepower, too much rhythm, and in Bordeleau, a forward who turned a wild game into her personal showcase. SMU found goals through Bunton and Noble, but they were chasing shadows for long stretches.
If this is the standard NCS can sustain — with Bordeleau ruthless, Aoki pulling strings, and Roberts arriving with goals from midfield — the real question is how many teams in their path can actually live with them.
