Thanks to Nathanial Blaiklock's fancy footwork, the UNBC Northern Timberwolves left North Cariboo Field singing the blues.
The third-year midifielder for the Capilano Blues danced into open territory deep in the UNBC crease and waited for teammate Dhani Sharma to feed him a pass. The ball rolled just beyond the reach of UNBC defender Scott DeBianchi and Blaiklock redirected it into the net with just eight minutes left, the gamewinner in 2-1 triumph over the T-wolves.
It was the second round of misery UNBC was forced to endure on their PACWEST soccer weekend, coming on the heels of a 4-1 loss Saturday to the Vancouver Island University Mariners.
"Dhani was open and I called for it and he just swung in a great ball and I got the last touch on it, it was really all Dhani," said Blaiklock, whose team improved its season record to two wins and two losses.
Earlier in the day, Tasha Donoghue scored twice to lift the Capilano women to a 2-0 win over UNBC. Combined with Saturday's 5-1 loss to VIU, the female T-wolves have six losses to start the season.
Slow starts proved the demise of the UNBC men in both games. Sharma opened the scoring 13 minutes into the first half and if not for a diving penalty shot save from the goalie Kyle Flannagan off a Cam Parks shot at the 17-minute mark, the Blues could have taken control early. Sparked by Flannagan's big save, UNBC's offence came to life and DeBianchi got open to tie it with 42 minutes gone in the first half.
"We get down to the opposing third [of the field] and it seems we run out of ideas after that," said DeBianchi. "We need to get serious about practice so that we can be serious in a game."
They had their chances in both games, but UNBC's lack of finish around the net left them baffled. Amedee Cimana and Andrew Mehrassa each nailed goalposts in the second half in Saturday's game, with UNBC trailing by a goal.
Now with three losses after three weekends, the UNBC men (2-1-3) saw their 15th-place national drop out of sight. UNBC coach Sonny Pawar said his team will have to work out their difficulties in practice and find ways to score and before they make the trip this weekend to Vancouver to play Kwantlen and Douglas College.
"We felt like we let this one slip between out fingers and that's becoming a reoccurring theme, unfortunately," Pawar said. "Our team is having some difficulty putting the ball in the net and it's affecting our confidence now."
Jared Stephens, AJ Kambere, Davis Stupich and David Bertrand scored for the VIU men Saturday. Kellen Strobl was the lone UNBC goalscorer.
Cora Kelly collected the T-wolves' first goal of the season on a breakaway late in the first half and they went into the intermission tied 1-1 with VIU, but couldn't hold off the Mariners (3-0-1), who scored four times in the second half. Emma Johansson and Jessie Weninger each fired two goals and Maraiah Robinson also scored.
On Sunday, Mikaella Sewers provided shutout goaltending for the Blues (2-0-1), who handed UNBC its sixth-straight defeat. In six games, UNBC has been outscored 29-1.
"It's the same old mistakes, we're very fragile under pressure and we don't find urgency to clear the ball," said UNBC women's coach Mato Mikic. "Throw-in or corner kicks are better than chances for the opposition and we get a little panicky in that area and the next thing you know the ball is in the net."
