This is why the Nova Southeastern University women’s team is heating up in playoffs

Native Canadian Hannah Christophe hasn’t forgotten her origins in soccer, playing in sub-zero temperatures in Ontario.

When asked what she would wear during winter soccer matches back home, Christophe laughed.

“Everything,” she said, “tights, extra tights, sweaters under my jersey, gloves, ear muffs ...”

Emma Heikkila can relate to Christophe.

Heikkila is from Finland, where she swears some games were played in temperatures as cold as 25-below.

Given that, perhaps it’s no wonder that Christophe and fellow senior Heikkila ended up in sunny South Florida, where they have heated up the stat sheets for the fifth-seeded Nova Southeastern University Sharks.

Christophe leads NSU with 15 goals, and Heikkila is second with 13. They are big reasons why the Sharks (16-3-2) are set to play in the Division II NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 round on Friday at 3 p.m. against sixth-seeded Embry-Riddle (12-5-2) at a neutral site in St. Augustine.

NSU beat Embry-Riddle 2-0 on Nov. 2 in the teams’ only prior meeting this season. But that was the last match in which Embry-Riddle allowed more than one goal.

“Our players know that Embry-Riddle is a good team,” said NSU coach John Constable, who hails from Scotland. “I don’t think we’ll be overconfident.”

Constable, who is in his fifth season at NSU, has led the Sharks to five straight NCAA Tournaments. But the Sharks — who started their soccer program in 1995 — had never won a tournament game prior to this season.

The difference this season, Constable said, is NSU’s senior leadership. The Sharks have four players who made first- or second-team All-Sunshine State Conference, and all of them are seniors: forward Christope, midfielder Heikkila and defenders Paige Napolitano and Gaby Moreira. Napolitano and Moreira lead a defense that has produced a program-record 14 shutouts this year.

NSU’s top goalie is Shannon Hearty, a junior from New York who is 11-0-1 with a 0.27 goals-against average.

Offensively, Heikkila has 33 career goals, which is third on NSU’s all-time list. Christophe has 32, which ranks fourth. Two former Sharks are ahead of them: Shurell Burton (40 goals) and Sierra Lelii (34).

Heikkila and Christophe have combined for 28 of NSU’s 60 goals this season, and the Sharks are 15-0-1 when either one of them scores.

They each scored a goal in NSU’s playoff opener, a 2-1 win over fourth-seeded Montevallo. Then, in a 5-1 win over top-seeded Mississippi College, Heikkila scored twice and Christophe once, avenging a 3-0 loss to that same school last year.

But even with all those goals scored, Christophe and Heikkila seem to have their egos in check.

“Every goal we score is for the whole team,” Christophe said. “Stats don’t matter to me as long as our team scores. We don’t play selfish soccer here.”

The NCAA Division II championship game will be played on Dec. 14 at Pittsburgh’s Highmark Stadium, and Constable is counting on goals from Christophe and Heikkila getting the Sharks to Pennsylvania.

Constable “discovered” Heikkila after she scored all three goals in Finland’s junior national team’s 3-0 win over Northern Ireland. He then contacted her through Facebook.

The coach was at a showcase tournament in Canada when he spotted Christophe. Later, he emailed her and wrote “Soccer in Paradise” on the subject line.

In both cases, the recruitment strategy worked, thanks in part to year-round sunshine in South Florida.

“Hannah is incredibly fast and a goal-scoring machine,” Constable said. “She’s a beast of an athlete.

“Emma is one of the best players in the country. The bigger the game, the better she plays.”