Trailing 3-0 Sunday afternoon in Kamloops, the UNBC Timberwolves women’s soccer team outshot and outchanced the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack for the next hour but the damage was already done.
The WolfPack was already feasting on the spoils of a 3-0 lead, all scored in the first half-hour of the game.
The T-wolves made some adjustments late in the first half and finally sank their canines in with a goal from California native Sofia Jones – her first U Sports Canada West Conference strike – but that’s as close as it got.
They fell 3-1 to their Canada West conference Pacific Division rivals, a day after starting the season in Kelowna with a 2-2 deadlock with the UBC Okanagan Heat.
WolfPack shooters Chantal Gammie, Abbie Simms and Marisa Mendonca (on a penalty shot) all found the net behind UNBC goalie Madi Doyle, who stopped two of the five shots she faced in the game.
UNBC took 19 shots and eight of them were on goal. Danielle Robertson made six saves in goal for the TRU, including a breakaway showstopper to thwart Jones.
Jones, a second-year college player from San Francisco, notched her first U Sports Canada West goal in the 45th minute when she unloaded a left-foot half-volley while turning and it sailed in from 20 yards out.
“We were actually very good at the beginning,” said T-wolves head coach Neil Sedgwick. “We created some good opportunities early on, and we outshot them (10-6) in the first half and 19-7 overall. We had the run of play in the second half but couldn’t score. Their goalkeeper was good and they defended tough.
“I was proud of the way the girls played and their effort,” he added. “It will serve us well at some point down the road, just the way they competed and the way they played. We just didn’t get the result and the goals today.”
Paige Payne was the UNBC scoring hero Saturday, collecting her first two goals of the season. The third-year forward from Kitimat tied the game 1-1 about a minute after Lindsey Berthelsen slipped in behind the UNBC defence and beat goalie Brooke Molby to open the scoring just 66 seconds into the game. Payne gave UNBC the lead at 58:48, but the T-wolves were unable to hold off Emma Terrillon, who fired the equalizer in the 76th minute.
“Obviously it was messy start,” said Sedgwick. “They scored in the first minute and we scored in the second minute but the girls had a lot of resilience to take the lead and almost had it at 3-1, and they scored to tie it up.
“If you look at the two games, we’re creating more goal-scoring than we ever have. Unfortunately we conceded five goals in the two games. But if we look at the weekend as a whole there was a lot of growth and we’re excited about next weekend with Regina and Saskatchewan. This is by no means the finished product with this group of players.”
The T-wolves host the Regina Cougars Friday night in their first-ever game at Masich Place Stadium, then take on the Saskatchewan Huskies Sunday afternoon.
