UBC Athletics
VANCOUVER - The Canada West Men's Soccer Final Four kicked off Friday night with the first game of the night featuring the Trinity Western University Spartans (8-4-4) defeating the Alberta Golden Bears (9-1-4) 3-2 at Thunderbird Stadium in extra time.
Both teams fought to a 2-2 score line in regular time before extra time was eventually needed. Within the first five minutes of extra time, TWU's Leighton Johnson found the game winner to send the Spartans to the Canada West gold medal game. The Golden Bears couldn't find the net through open play and will settle for the bronze medal match.
"We had a bit of adversary in the first half. I thought Alberta was the better team and we had to fight through that and obviously go into overtime and get the result," said Spartans head coach Mike Shearon. "We were on the front foot most of the second half and we just had to keep going."
The Golden Bears controlled the flow of the game through the game's early stages, dominating possession and chances. That control of possession allowed for little offense from the Spartans.
A shift in chances came in the 20th minute when Elie Gindo almost beat Bears keeper Connor James from a fumbled save. From then on the Spartans had gained a semblance of attack and continued to challenge James.
The first half finished 0-0 with decent chances from both teams to take the lead, but the ball couldn't find the back of the net.
At the start of the second half it was Alberta coming out at full steam yet again.
In the 49th minute Trinity Western gave up a free kick just outside their own box. The Spartans paid the price as Ajeej Sarkaria took the kick, finding the head of Cameron Sjerve who made no mistake in getting it into the back of the net. The Golden Bears took the first lead of the night 1-0.
With the deadlock broken what came next was a flurry of chances for both teams.
The Spartans got on board in the 64th minute when a clumsy Bear's challenge inside the box resulted in a penalty. Caleb Johnson stood over the ball before slotting it into the left side of the net to equalize the game at 1-1.
Shortly after it was the Spartans striking again. A long pass found Domenic Poletto in stride as the keeper, James, came rushing out of the box to clear the ball. James' clearance came off Poletto and back into the path of the forward who fired off the shot to make it 2-1 Spartans in the 70th minute.
Seven minutes later the referee gave yet another penalty, this time Alberta was the beneficiary. The Golden Bears dead ball specialist, Sarkaria, made no mistake in placing the ball bottom left corner. The goal brought the game to 2-2 at the 77th minute.
With both offenses highly active in the second half, neither teams could pull away from each other in the final minutes. Extra time was needed to find the winner.
In the 95th Trinity Western found the go ahead goal. Aidan Moore played a perfect pass to Johnson and the following strike brought the Spartans up 3-2.
Throughout the rest of extra time, the Spartans continued to press forward and create attacking pressure. Aided by huge saves by Sebastian Colyn, it was enough to silence the Golden Bears and secure a spot in the Canada West finals.
"Last year we lost to them in an overtime period and we didn't want to let that happen again so there's a little extra motivation in that too," Shearon said. "It's time to go win a banner tomorrow."
Trinity Western will play tomorrow night at Thunderbird Stadium in the Canada West finals for a chance to play in the U Sports national tournament. Alberta will finish their season tomorrow night in the bronze medal match at Ken Woods Field.