David took on Goliath Sunday afternoon on the U Sport women’s soccer field in Vancouver and the smaller of the two nearly pulled off an upset of biblical proportions.
The UNBC Timberwolves, 2-1 victors Friday in a single-game elimination playoff against the Manitoba Bisons, faced the UBC Thunderbirds Sunday in the quarterfinals and gave one of the biggest schools on the Canada West block a bare-knuckles scrap that surely ruffled some feathers.
It was only a month ago UBC came to Prince George and hammered UNBC 7-0 in their only other meeting of the season on the way to a second-place 10-3-1 finish. But the T-wolves, who squeaked into the playoffs on the last day of the season with a 3-8-3 record, apparently had short memories and wiped the slate clean.
Protecting a 2-1 lead in the second half on the rain-soaked field at Thunderbird Stadium, UBC twice survived dangerous scoring attacks led by T-wolves forward Paige Payne. The T-birds eventually put it away with a penalty-shot goal from Danielle Steer, winning 3-1, but the T-wolves came up with enough resistance to make it a game they won’t soon forget.
“UBC has always been a good team, they have a lot to choose from there and the whole team is super-athletic and it was definitely really hard, but our team came together and put up a fight,” said Payne. “Altogether I think we had more opportunities than we anticipated and I think we really scared them in the last half.”
Payne was at her scariest in the 63rd minute when she got the ball behind a falling T-bird and let go a high rainbow that dropped down from 20 yards. The shot grazed the fingertips of goalie Emily Moore and bounced off the goalpost. Then in the 82nd minute, with the T-wolves still only one goal down, Kiana Swift chipped a pass up to Payne and the third-year striker got behind the defence and let go a low shot that was rolling in behind Moore in the six-yard box, but T-birds defender Margaret Hadley got to it in time to clear it away.
“I’m proud of the girls, they stuck to the game plan and competed incredibly well and when we had the ball we were really good with it and created some good opportunities,” said T-wolves head coach Neil Sedgwick.
Last season, the T-wolves had a more veteran crew and made the playoffs for the first time since joining Canada West in 2012. This year, with a team of mostly first- and second-year players they made more history, winning their first-ever U Sports playoff game when they beat the Bisons.
“Manitoba was higher-ranked than us but when we play our game we can really match up with any team in the league,” said Payne. “For us to come back from the loss we had in the season against UBC and just forget about that and think about the present game, we did a great job.”
Payne, a 20-year-old from Kitimat, was a record-setter herself, establishing new T-wolves’ marks for most goals (eight) and most points (12) in a season. She scored again Sunday, taking advantage of a penalty shot in the 54th minute when Emma Peckinpaugh tripped her at the 15-yard line.
The T-birds built an early lead. Steer headed in a short pass from Hadley at the 12:13 mark after UBC gained possession on a corner kick and Amelia Crawford made it 2-0 at 15:05 with a long roller that came out of a screen in front of goalie Brooke Molby.
UBC outshot the T-wolves 8-3.
Sunday’s game marked the end of the U Sports careers of defender Kylie Erb and midfielder Madison Emmond, who both finished their fifth year of eligibility. Sedgwick said the team’s playoff run will only help him recruit new talent to fill those holes.
“It was a great season – we didn’t get the results we wanted but we were close,” Sedgwick said. “We knew if we had the opportunity we could compete well in the playoffs and we’ve shown what we can do.
“For next year and for future years, people see there’s progress. Good players that want to play at the college level will look at the school’s record and they’ll see progress. It was only three years ago UBC won a national championship and if you win a national championship you’ll stay strong for years after that because of that recruiting element.
“For a school of 3,000 from Prince George against a 63,000-student school, the girls competed well and I’m super-proud about their season.”
