Demian Dron thought it was clean check.
The 17-year-old rookie UNBC Timberwolves defender was convinced he tackled the ball well within the rules of soccer before the sudden stop sent Fraser Valley Cascades forward Jehmrode Kahlon flying to the turf.
The referee who blew the play dead obviously saw it differently.
He awarded Fraser Valley a penalty shot and Gurmaan Jhaj, the Cascades' most deadly finisher, made it count when his low shot to the middle of the net got through the wickets of goalie Rob Goodey.
That gave the Cascades a 2-1 edge and they went on to defeat the T-wolves 3-1 on a warm but overcast Sunday afternoon at Masich Place Stadium.
Jhaj, whose 13 goals ranked second in the U Sports Canada West Conference in 2018, scored his first two goals of the season to lead the Cascades to their first victory. Atle Koellmel also scored for Fraser Valley. Michael Henman replied for UNBC.
The Cascades took three of four points from UNBC on the final weekend of the 2018 season to knock the T-wolves out of playoff spot. That rivalry was fresh on the minds of both teams.
"We know it's always going to be a battle with these guys and they were going to have a chip on their shoulder because of the past season," said the 22-year-old Jhaj. "They're definitely a good team, they're one of the better teams with the ball so you always have to be prepared for them and counter on the attack because they like to use their pace.
"We let them back into it and had to battle to get them back."
The T-wolves knotted the score 1-1 five minutes into the second half. Henman won possession after a corner kick from Smith and from just north of the 18-yard box the UNBC striker booted a high twister into the top left corner of the net.
UNBC had to press for the equalizer after Jhaj's second goal and the Cascades countered with a late goal in injury time. Koellmel was subbed in late by Cascades coach Tom Lowndes and was rewarded with his first goal of the season when he turned on the jets to beat Joel Watson with an outside move, scoring from 20 yards out.
Both teams now sport 1-2-1 records two weeks into the season.
Last year when the teams met in Abbotsford, Jhaj scored on two of his three penalty shots on Goodey and he used that experience to help him decide what to do Sunday when he lined up for the penalty kick 74 minutes into the game.
"I kind of expected him to dive to one side early, so I decided to go down the middle and it paid off," said Jhaj.
Dron, who had a standout weekend as an effective defender, did not agree with the ruling which led to the goal.
"I don't think it was the right call, I lunged in, I poked the ball and the guy sold it a little bit and the ref just blew the whistle," said Dron. "I don't know what else I could have done, I thought that was a fair tackle. I think that call should have gone our way, if anything. He dove, in my opinion. I want to see the replay on that one."
The six-foot-five Dron has played ever minute of his team's four games this season in the fullback position and he's looking like belongs in the university league. Not only can he run and keep up with the play but his anticipation and vertical leaping ability are tremendous assets for an undersized T-wolves team.
"I've been training a lot to build up my strength and speed so I can match these guys when I come and play," said Dron.
The T-wolves left the field thinking the officials in red hadn't given them a fair shake and perhaps they were justified in their thinking.
A couple minutes after the penalty shot, UNBC defender Jonah Smith sent a lead pass to Owen Stewart and he was taken down from behind with the ball on his foot in close scoring range. Stewart managed a weak shot as he was falling which rolled wide on the open side of the net but there was no call made by the officials.
"We have to accept the fact that we can't control that, but anything I'd say about officiating takes nothing away from Fraser Valley, I thought they were quite a good team today," said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson. "We still created enough. When we went 1-1, I thought we'd go on to win because we were starting to find the spaces we wanted to attack but they made it more difficult today and we were a bit slower than we were on Friday."
In their previous games this season the T-wolves have had to play from behind and they had that hill to climb again Sunday when Jhaj converted his scoring chance 21 minutes in. The fifth-year midfielder took a long pass from Tyler Henderson, slipped past his check and booted a low ball in behind Goodey.
The T-wolves and Cascades tied 1-1 on Friday.
"We had slow starts in both games but came out strong in both second halves and really took it to them and were positive going forward," said Smith. "A couple mistakes at the back and they punished us for it. We had a lot of good takeaways from this weekend and we'll learn from our mistakes."
The T-wolves will travel to Victoria to play the Vikes in their home-opening weekend Friday and Saturday nights. The Cascades play their next game at home in Abbotsford Friday against UBC-Okanagan.
The UNBC women open their season this Thursday at noon at Masich Place Stadium against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack of Kamloops.
