Rain and wet field conditions chased the UNBC Timberwolves off their usual home field Sunday afternoon for their game against the Winnipeg Wesmen.
The Prince George Youth Soccer Association field they used was unfamiliar turf for most of the players on both teams, but not for Owen Stewart. The 17-year-old UNBC striker has his soccer roots firmly planted in Rotary Field No. 8, a place he's been coming to since he started playing the game at age four.
So it was only fitting that when the T-wolves needed a scoring hero to give them their first home win of the season, Stewart was there to answer the call.
He got his foot on a rebound in a mad scramble in front of the Winnipeg net and booted a low shot in past goalie Joshua Partaker just inside the near post to give UNBC a 2-1 triumph.
The second goal of Stewart's young CIS career was doubly-sweet for the rookie, knowing he had his Prince George family and friends watching from the sidelines.
"It just dropped off the keeper's hands and (UNBC forward Francesco Bartolillo) was able to get his body in front of the ball and I just saw it drop and I put it home," said Stewart. "I think that's been our weakness this year, not being able to capitalize on our chances, so to finally finish one of those chances and end up being the winner and get three points from that is rewarding for sure."
Stewart has played every minute of every game so far this season and his energy levels never seemed to lag. At just five-foot-eight, he lacks the height of the prototypical striker but makes up for that with his hustle and persistent attacks, showing maturity that goes way beyond his 17 years.
"It's exciting being in this league – it's a challenge obviously, but you adapt to it and you learn how to play in the league and it just starts to come naturally and you end up scoring," said Stewart, a Duchess Park high school graduate now studying business at UNBC. "Coach Steve (Simonson) knew I had that offensive flair and he's helped me bring it out in the CIS."
Bartolillo opened the scoring with a header in off the crossbar at the 25:27 mark, a play set up by Cody Gysbers. Three minutes later, Gysbers made a rookie mistake which resulted in the tying goal. He took a pass under pressure in UNBC territory with a Wesmen attacker closing in and instead of booting the ball to safety downfield he directed a hard pass-back to his own goalie, Mitch MacFarlane, who had trouble controlling it and tried to clear it quickly up the middle. Wesmen midfielder Andrew Kliment intercepted the ball and his low shot rolled beyond the reach of MacFarlane to tie the game 1-1.
With UNBC forwards Cheona Edzerza and Tofa Fakunle creating offence, UNBC had plenty of chances but Partaker was on his game, coming up with four tough saves in the game.
"We made it tough on ourselves – I thought we could have won more comfortably," said Simonson. "Once we scored they really turned the screw on us and made it nervous at the end. If we had better energy we would have won that comfortably. Owen came up with a great one for a winner there and it was a fantastic goal.
"His attitude is second to none, his brain's exceptional and his talent is showing all the time. He can run at players, he finds gaps to run in behind and he was seeing that. He was probably our best player today."
MacFarlane, the oldest T-wolf at 25, was sharp from start to finish. He timed his jumps for loose balls perfectly and was never caught out of position, keeping the Wesmen (0-7-1) winless. Winnipeg was held to just two shots on net but Wesmen shooters William Brown and Krzysztof Szulc came close to tying it in the late stages, wasting great opportunities with hard shots that missed the net.
"I had a couple of catches and my back line (led by Conrad Rowlands and Gordon Hall) was also solid, I have to give props to them, they just cleaned up in the back when they were pushing in the end," said MacFarlane. "We kept pushing in the second half and we finally got that goal. I can't say enough about Owen, he's putting balls through people's legs and putting runs in behind. He has the soccer mentality. He's got a huge head on his shoulders for being a guy so young."
It was only the second win of the season in eight tries for the T-wolves (2-6-0), who lost 3-0 to Saskatchewan at North Cariboo Field on Friday. UNBC remains seventh in the Pacific Division, three points out of a playoff spot.
The T-wolves will be on the road this weekend in Calgary for games against the Dinos (Saturday) and the Mount Royal Cougars (Sunday).
• The UNBC women lost 2-1 Sunday in Kamloops to the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack, after dropping a 3-0 decision to the UBC Okanagan Heat Saturday in Kelowna. Ava Simpson of the WolfPack broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 65th minute, scoring the winner on UNBC goalie Lianna Toopitsin. Kenzie Lecon opened the scoring for TRU early in the first half. Tianna Pius tied it 51 minutes in, the only goal UNBC has scored in four games this season. Shots were 7-4 in favour of TRU.
In Saturday's game, UNBC was held without a shot on goal, while the Heat fired six on Toopitsin. Courtney Hemmerling scored two goals for the Heat, collecting her first of the game just 1:11 in, and Maya Bandy also scored.
The UNBC women host the UBC Thunderbirds in their next game this Friday at 7:15 p.m. at North Cariboo Field, followed by a Sunday noon home game against the Victoria Vikes.
