Jade Bordeleau Shines in NCS Victory Over SMU

Jade Bordeleau turned a routine match report into a personal highlight reel, driving NCS past SMU in a wild, attack-heavy contest that never really slowed down.

The NCS forward struck a hat-trick, pulled the strings in transition, and punished every loose inch of space SMU offered. SMU answered with two nerveless penalties from Brooke Bunton and a late goal from Kaylee Noble, but they spent most of the day chasing a game that kept slipping further away.

Bordeleau takes charge

From the opening phases, NCS played on the front foot. Bordeleau set the tone, buzzing between the lines, linking with Daisy Duda and Madison Casteen. The combination paid off when Bordeleau broke the deadlock, finishing after sharp work from Duda and Casteen. It was the kind of move that tells a story about a team’s intent: quick, direct, and ruthless.

She did it again. Another incisive NCS move, another Bordeleau finish, again with Duda and Casteen involved in the build-up. SMU’s back line never really got to grips with her movement, and the scoreboard reflected it.

NCS kept coming. A pair of goals credited to “NCS TEAM” underlined the territorial dominance, as waves of pressure finally broke SMU’s resistance. By the time the dust settled on that spell, NCS had a commanding cushion and the visitors were hanging on.

SMU fight back from the spot

SMU, though, refused to fold. Their first real lifeline came from 12 yards. Brooke Bunton stepped up and buried a penalty, then repeated the trick with another clinical spot-kick. Two chances, two conversions, and suddenly the mood shifted.

Shots began to fly at both ends. Kaia Samuelsen Elverum tried her luck from distance, firing over the top. At the other end, Emily Wong drove a shot wide, Bordeleau lashed one over, and Mana Nakata kept testing the frame, sending efforts high and wide before finally forcing a sharp save from SMU goalkeeper Aubrey Brown at the top right corner.

The game became stretched, frantic, open. Perfect for a finisher in form.

Hat-trick sealed, pressure unrelenting

The pressure told again when NCS carved SMU open and Bordeleau completed her hat-trick. Yuna Aoki slipped her through, and the forward did the rest, twice finishing off near-identical moves orchestrated by Aoki’s vision from deep. Every time SMU thought they had survived the worst of it, Bordeleau reappeared in a pocket of space.

NCS refused to lean solely on their star striker. Duda fired over from range, and then Erica Roberts stepped into the spotlight with a clean strike to add yet another NCS goal. It was a deserved reward for her constant involvement, and it reinforced the sense that NCS could hurt SMU from almost any angle.

Roberts nearly doubled her tally, driving a low shot toward the bottom left, but Brown read it well and parried. The SMU keeper stayed busy, denying Katie Richter in similar fashion, again down to her left. Without Brown, the scoreline could have turned brutal.

Noble’s late answer

SMU kept looking for a way back. Noble tested NCS goalkeeper Riley Pickels with a low effort to the center, but Pickels stood firm. Moments later, Noble finally found her breakthrough, slotting home to give SMU a deserved goal from open play and a flicker of late momentum.

NCS still had chances to stretch the margin. Antonella Mazziotto sent a shot over the top, Nakata continued to fire from distance, and Bunton, chasing a hat-trick of her own, drove an effort high for SMU.

By the final whistle, the pattern was clear. NCS, led by the ruthless Bordeleau and backed by creators like Aoki, Duda, and Casteen, had simply carried too much attacking weight. SMU, buoyed by Bunton’s penalties and Noble’s persistence, showed resilience but never quite escaped the storm.

If this is the standard NCS set in front of goal, the real question now is who will be able to slow them down.