Through eight games of their Canada West women’s soccer season the UNBC Timberwolves’ defence was downright stingy.
They’d allowed just five goals all season, equal to that of the high-and-mighty Trinity Western Spartans in the same number of games.
That changed in a hurry Friday night at Masich Place Stadium, where the Spartans booted their way to a 5-2 victory.
In a game that was closer than the score might indicate, Kathryn Harvey, with two goals, Jenaya Robertson, Kristen Sakaki and Rachel Hutchinson supplied the Spartan firepower. Sofia Jones and Paige Payne scored for UNBC.
The Spartans, last year’s runners-up in the U Sports national championship, have a habit of scoring in bunches and that combination of a volatile offence and an airtight defence has vaulted the Langley-based team to the top of the U Sports national rankings.
Trinity Western (8-0-1) retained its grip on first place in the Pacific Division. The T-wolves (3-3-3) are fifth in the Pacific.
As expected, the Spartans dominated the ball and scored first. Hutchinson, a fifth-year midfielder from Cloverdale who ranks in the top-10 in Canada West in career assists, showed her passing ability when she fed the ball to Harvey for her first of the game 8:50 in.
The Spartans got the ball in deep a couple of times but the T-wolves’ stellar defence did the job clearing ball out of the danger zone before the high-octane finishers in blue could apply the finishing touches.
The T-wolves evened it up at the 33-minute mark. Jenna Wild spotted Jones breaking up the left side of the field and the third-year forward from San Francisco treated the home crowd with a waist-high shot from about 25 yards away that eluded the reach of goalie Ella Sutton.
Just before the intermission, one of the T-wolves took down Sierra Halldorson just outside the box and on the ensuing free kick, Robertson curled one up and over the blockers to put the Spartans ahead 2-1.
Trinity Western came out firing in the second half. Harvey was set up at close range and made it 3-1 in the 53rd minute and six minutes later Sasaki blasted in a long shot past goalie Madi Doyle.
“They’re a great team, a great group of players and their coaches have done a great job with that program year after year,” said T-wolves head coach Neil Sedgwick. “It was a good effort and the team stuck to the gameplan. We knew it would be tough.
“A fantastic free kick and in the second half, when you think you’re building, they got that early one and that caused some problems for us but we continued to play. It just shows the growth of the players and how they’re willing to take chances and play against one of the top three teams in the country.”
Down by three, the T-wolves answered in the 64th minute. Payne launched a 30-yard strike from the centre of the field for her second goal of the season. That was the last shot the T-wolves could muster on goal and they were outshot 12-7 in the game.
“ I thought we really competed and that was our goal because we know they’re a really god team but we took the opportunity to just build on what we’ve been doing the whole season,” said T-wolves fourth-year midfielder Ashley Volk.
“They’re really good at taking advantage of the opportunities they have in front of the net and they scored two beautiful free kicks.”
Hutchinson capped the scoring on a long-range free kick in injury time, floating a high rainbow that sailed over the outstretched arms of Doyle.
“I wasn’t aiming there, I was aiming near-post for Jenaya (Robertson), but I’m glad it turned out,” said Hutchinson, whose fourth goal of the season was the conference-leading 27th goal the Graham Roxburgh-coached Spartans have scored.
“The best thing about that is we have lots of goalscorers, its not just coming from our forward line. Our midfield, even our defence, like to score and that’s one of our best attributes.”
As successful as the Spartans were last season, the T-wolves lost to them by only one goal in 2018, a 4-3 decision, and Hutchinson knew they would be tough to pin down on Friday.
“UNBC’s a great team, they always have great momentum and they keep us on our toes every time we play them so credit to them,” said Hutchinson, 22. “But it was good to get those two goals back-to-back.”
The T-wolves are back on the field at Masich Sunday at noon for their final home game of the season when they face the Fraser Valley Cascades. Fraser Valley (2-4-4) lost 3-0 to the Calgary Dinos (8-0-2) who hold down second place in the Pacific, a few percentage points behind Trinity Western.
For Volk, second-year midfielder Jenna Wild and fifth-year midfielder Julia Babicz, Sunday’s game will be the last at home in their soccer career as Timberwolves.
“It is bittersweet, this program has been amazing for me and I’ve made some really great friends that I’ll cherish for a lifetime,” said Volk, 21, a UNBC business major who in February plans to enrol at the Justice Institute of B.C. in New Westminster to study to become a police officer.
“I’m looking forward to playing one last time at Masich. It feels really like a community and we always have a great crowd.”
