There were no surprises on the soccer pitch for the UNBC Timberwolves women's team on the weekend.
When the lady T-wolves (0-7-1) first looked at their schedule they knew the final September weekend games were going to be tough with the CIS seventh ranked Trinity Western University Spartans (2-1-3) and the fourth-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (3-0-3) visiting Prince George on Friday and Sunday, respectively. The T-wolves lost both games by 4-0 scores.
The T-wolves are still searching for their first victory since October 2009. Even though UNBC lost both games against their Pacific division opponents in the Canada West this weekend they still had some small victories. UNBC improved its defensive coverage against two opponents they gave up a total of 20 goals against last season.
UNBC head coach Andy Cameron said it's the little victories within the game the team can focus on as they continue to strive for improvement.
"We're somewhat pleased," said Cameron. "We're moving in the right direction, the performance today wasn't as good as we'd like, but we'll learn by our mistakes."
The T-wolves were without Jessica Manning and Jessica Erickson in Sunday's game. Manning is recovering from a mild concussion she suffered the previous weekend in Calgary and Erickson tweaked her knee in Friday's loss to the Spartans. With their bye next weekend, Cameron said both women should be ready to return to the lineup Oct. 11 and 13 when the Manitoba Bisons and Winnipeg Wesmen visit the North Cariboo Senior Soccer fields.
Sunday, the UBC T-birds took a 3-0 lead at the half and added a fourth goal in the 72nd minute to complete the scoring. Things didn't start well for UNBC as they scored on themselves in the fourth minute off a T-birds' corner kick to hand their opponents an early 1-0 advantage. The T-birds extended their lead late in the half on goals from Jasmin Dhanda and Janine Frazao.
In the second half, the T-wolves played solid defence but were in their own end of the field most of the time and eventually Frazao notched her second goal of the game from a scramble inside the box. Frazao also picked up an assist.
Jordan Hall made 10 saves in the UNBC net, while Alyssa Williamson was a tad lonely on the other side of the field, having to make only one save as the T-wolves only took three shots towards the goal area.
Cameron said the women will be working on their offensive attack in practice during the next two weeks as they prepare for games against the Bisons (1-3-3) and Wesmen (1-6).
"We're getting better each and every week and we've moved from back to front and we're starting to do stuff in the offensive third," said Cameron. "We want to be the complete package, a complete team by the Manitoba and Winnipeg weekend
Cameron named Katie Blokker as the T-wolves' player of the game Sunday after the midfielder played in three different positions and was able to get the job done wherever she played.
* The UNBC T-wolves men earned a 1-1 tie with the Fraser Valley Cascades on Saturday night on the road. Fraser Valley's Justin Sekhon opened the scoring in the 68th minute, but T-wolf Cheona Edzerza tied the game at 1-1 in the 84th minute. Friday the T-wolves (1-3-2) lost 2-1 to the Cascades (4-3-1). UNBC is in action at home Saturday and Sunday (noon starts) against the top team in Canada West the UBC T-birds (7-1).
