The Trinity Western Spartans thought they had their second win of the season signed, sealed and delivered.
But the ink was not quite dry on that final outcome on the U SPORTS Canada West men’s soccer field on a cool and rainy Friday night at Masich Place Stadium and the UNBC Timberwolves still had time to rewrite a little history.
The Spartans had just finished celebrating what looked like a game-clinching goal from Luca Alberti in the 84th minute and were playing in injury time when T-wolves rookie forward Dominic Paris, sprung free on a lead pass up the middle from Stu Rowlands, got tripped down in the box by Spartans goalie Sebastien Colyn.
Borderline call or not, a penalty shot was awarded and T-wolves midfielder Kensho Ando drew the honour and he made no mistake, launching in a low shot that slipped below the outstretched arms of Colyn into the far corner.
Less than a minute later the referee’s whistle tweets signaled it would end as a 1-1 tie.
Spartans head coach Mike Shearon has seen enough in his six years at the helm to know that no one-goal lead is safe and he gave credit to the T-wolves for not letting up when time was running late.
“It’s soccer and you have two teams that want to win a game and UNBC has a lot of pride in their program and they weren’t going to just roll over when we get the goal near the end,” said Shearon. “They came down and did enough to get a (penalty kick), I guess, and leveled it.”
Sheardon said his team, despite having the T-wolves under siege at times, had trouble finding the net.
“It’s tough because the attacking movements and the goals are the last thing that’s going to come back from this COVID break. It’s a lot easier to defend and to create structure, but to get real-life finishing back, that a little bit more difficult.
“The frustration of the tie tonight shows they care and want to win and we just need to control what we can control and push forward.”
The Spartans had a goal in the first half called back. Soren Di Sabatino put a high shot that deflected high off T-wolves defender Luke Brbot in behind goalie Daniel Zadravec 35 minutes in. But before that became official, referee Carlos Hernandez consulted with the other officials who determined Brbot got pushed from behind by one of the Spartans just before Di Sabatino let go his shot.
The game remained scoreless in what was an evenly-played first half with both teams getting great chances. T-wolves forward Michael Henman put one off the goalpost from a sharp angle 24 minutes in, and Trinity’s Tristen Torresan had a close call the other way but booted it over the net.
The Spartans had the better opportunities in the second half and rookie forward Christian Rossi was especially dangerous, testing Zadravec several times and setting up teammates for good looks at the net that either went wide or were blocked by T-wolves defenders.
“It could have went either way, both teams had chances,” said Brbot, who drew some tough assignments on the back end with veteran Cody Gybers out of the lineup with a foot injury.
The T-wolves had five starters sidelined, including Gybers, Gregor Smith (calf), Mitchell Linley (ankle), Loic Benquet (ankle) and Anthony Preston (sick), then rookie defender Martin Grombein joined the T-wolves’ injury list three minutes into Friday’s game.
Jackson Thomson came off the bench for the Spartans and nearly scored in the 80th minute on a spinning strike from close range, a move that Rowlands imitated a couple minutes later at the other end of the field, not long after he came in to replace Henman. The T-wolves drew energy from Rowlands, a fourth-year striker from Chilliwack, and Paris, who kept the heat on in the late stages with their ball control which led to the fateful penalty.
“Our front line were grinding today, they put it all on the field,” said the 21-year-old Brbot. “By the end, in that 85th minute, with Stu coming in, you got fresh legs coming in he just went all out, it was amazing.
“(Ando) stepped right up into Tony Preston’s role and the same with Alex Nielson and Connor Lewis, a rookie who didn’t play last year because we didn’t have a season. It was his first game on his home field and he was amazing. Dan made some crucial saves, it was just an all-around effort. They really came at us.”
Ando, a native of Tokyo in his second season at UNBC, entertained the crowd with his fast feet, shifty agility and determined rushes, continuing the pace he set for himself last weekend in Victoria.
“Kensho for me, has taken a massive step forward from two years ago,” said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson. “He was a good player then and I think he’s a great payer now. He’s a kid who is the engine of our group. He’s such a hardworking humble kid and we’re just grateful to have him in our program.”
With the tie, UNBC now sports a 0-1-2 record, while the Spartans are 0-0-3.
“All we can do is be in the hunt and I don’t think there’s going to be a game for anybody this season that’s going to be a cakewalk,” said Simonson. “With us today we had five guys that would feature in the starting 11 who were not available and that showed our depth that we were able to still go ahead and do that today. The resilience to keep fighting after going down 1-0 late is a real testament tour team.”
Earlier in the night, the T-wolves women fell to 0-3 for the season, losing 6-0 to Trinity Western. The Spartans left their home in Langley for the trip to Prince George ranked No. 3 in the country and they looked like world-beaters at times taking on a young UNBC team with 21 first-year players on the roster.
Anna Dunn scored two goals for the Spartans (3-0) and Madilyn Melynchuk, Kathryn Harvey, Makenna Dietrich and Tilly James also scored on T-wolves goalie Brooke Molby. Trinity scored three goals in a five-minute span, starting with Dietrich’s first of the season in the 55th minute. Molby had a busy night in net and made 11 saves.
“They’ve been on top of the country for years and I’m proud of our players because they’ve taken the learnings from what we’ve done in August and they tried to put it into practice tonight,” said T-wolves head coach Neil Sedgwick. “Of course, we’re going to make some mistakes. We’ve got a young squad but they’re growing so quickly, so I’m excited to see where they go.
“We start with UVic, Trinity Western and UBC and they’re going to learn fast. These games are all about the lessons. We did a lot of positive things. We looked comfortable when we had full possession of the ball, our intention was right and defensively we dd some exceptional things. Of course, we conceded six goals but those are tidy-ups, pieces of the game we can tidy up quickly.”
Goalie Hannah Miller had just one save to make to notch her first shutout of the season. T-wolves veteran forward Sonja Neitsch came close to spoiling her perfect night with about four minutes left when she took a long shot that sailed over Miller’s arms and caught the low side of the crossbar before bouncing harmlessly out of play.
“That crossbar, I’m definitely going to be dreaming about that one tonight and wishing it went differently,” said Neitsch. “Our team didn’t want to give up. We’re grinders and we give 100 per cent, even when we’re going against really good competition. It’s a hard division and right now we’re trying to take everything as a learning opportunity.”
The same schools meet again today at Masich. The women’s game stats at 5 p.m., followed by the men’s clash at 7:15 p.m.
