The University of Victoria Vikes left the UNBC Timberwolves still searching for their first win of the Canada West women's soccer season.
Sunday afternoon at Rotary Fields, the Vikes got an early goal from Miranda Sakich and eventually left the pitch with a 3-0 victory. With the result, the Vikes improved to 3-1-3, while the Timberwolves saw their record drop to 0-6-0.
UVic dictated the flow of the game and attempted 25 shots, to just four for UNBC. Actually shots on goal favoured the Vikes 11-2. The T-wolves put in a solid defensive effort but could only do so much to hold off a determined UVic side.
"I would say we had a very good overall team performance," said Vikes head coach Tracy David. "We really looked to attack and had lots of opportunities. Credit to UNBC because their defenders were blocking shots all day long."
Sakich, a third-year midfielder, opened the scoring 7:44 into the game with a perfectly-placed header that beat UNBC goalkeeper Lianna Toopitsin.
The goal came shortly after a header by Emily Lieuwen bounced off the crossbar.
About 10 minutes after Sakich's marker, the Vikes doubled their lead on a play that started with a corner kick by Sarah Douglas.
Her inbound boot found its way to teammate Mia Gunter, whose shot deflected off a UNBC defender and got past a helpless Toopitsin.
UVic didn't score again until late in the match (85:49) when Kyra Teetzen - a first-year midfielder from Quesnel - broke free from a pair of T-wolves' defenders and let a shot go from about 25 yards out. The ball seemed to handcuff Toopitsin and slipped behind her.
Toopitsin finished the game with nine saves, while Puck Louwes picked up the shutout for the visitors.
The UNBC loss came on the heels of a 4-1 Friday setback to the UBC Thunderbirds.
UBC, the defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champion, found itself in a 1-1 deadlock at halftime despite controlling much of the play. The Timberwolves, against the flow, opened the scoring on the first-ever CIS goal by Paige Payne, who tapped in the rebound of a free kick taken by Tianna Pius.
Payne's goal came in the 11th minute.
The Thunderbirds leveled the score in the 30th minute when Jasmin Dhanda took a pass inside the 18-yard box and calmly knocked the ball past Toopitsin.
In the second half, UBC continued to press and was rewarded with markers by Rachel Jones, Dhanda and Janna Speed. Dhanda assisted on the goal by Jones and, overall, showed why she was the MVP of last year's national championship tournament.
Goalkeeper Emily Moore made three saves and earned her first CIS victory in the UBC nets. Toopitsin stopped 12 UBC shots.
The T-birds bumped their record to 2-0-4 but then lost Sunday in Edmonton, 3-2 to the University of Alberta Pandas.
Men tie in Calgary
In men's soccer action from the weekend, UNBC battled to a 1-1 tie Sunday in Calgary against the Mount Royal University Cougars and lost 4-0 to the University of Calgary Dinos on Saturday.
In Sunday's game, Mount Royal - ranked ninth in the CIS - opened the scoring in the 13th minute on a goal by Daylan Cato-Meyer, who headed the ball past keeper Rob Goodey after a scramble in front. In the 30th minute UNBC's Emmanuel Drame netted his first CIS goal off a corner kick.
The contest was a scrappy one, as three players were sent to the sidelines by red cards.
Cato-Meyer was booted out in the 40th minute for violent conduct, while UNBC's Gordon Hall and Mount Royal's Jeremy Dallacosta exited in the second half after getting their second yellow cards and automatic reds.
Goodey made six stops for UNBC and his counterpart, Kyran Valley, blocked two for Mount Royal. The Timberwolves moved to 2-7-1 this season and Mount Royal now sits at 6-2-2.
In Saturday's shutout loss to U of C, Dominic Russo had a hat trick for the Dinos, who didn't allow a single shot on their own net.
Calgary pushed its record to 5-2 and improved to 6-2 on Sunday thanks to a 2-1 decision against UVic.
This coming weekend, the UNBC women will continue their season with road games against the University of the Fraser Valley (Friday) and Trinity Western University (Saturday). UFV is currently third in the Pacific Division with a record of 4-1-2, while Trinity Western leads the Pacific at 5-0-2.
The UNBC men, meanwhile, have Saturday and Sunday home games (2:15 p.m. each day) against UBC Okanagan. UBCO sits third in the Pacific Division with a 3-3-2 record.
