Cameron Doherty, Huskie Athletics
SASKATOON – Francesco Bartolillo scored two goals and added an assist to lead the visiting University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves to a 3-0 victory over the host Saskatchewan Huskies on Sept. 16 in Nutrien Park.
Joining Bartolillo on the scoresheet for UNBC was Conrad Rowlands. The two goalies on record were Rob Goodey, who made six saves for the victory and Greg Buckley, who made a pair of point blank saves in the contest.
The win was the first of the season for the Timberwolves who now hold a record of 1-1-2. Saskatchewan meanwhile, falls to 2-4-0 with the loss.
The host Huskies maintained control of the run of play throughout much of the game and outshot the Timberwolves 13-7. It was UNBC that managed to take advantage of their goal-scoring opportunities however, proving to be dangerous around the Huskie 18-yard box.
The Huskies came out of the gates the stronger of the two teams and were nearly rewarded for their early pressure when a nice switch of field from Bryce Marinus was played through to a streaking Tobias Hyrich-Kreuger. Unfortunately for the home fans, Hyrich-Kreuger's shot towards the near post was stopped by Goodey, who did well to get down quickly.
Just three minutes after that scare, UNBC got on the board first through Bartolillo. A high, floating ball was played into the box and Josh McAvoy was able to direct it across the face of goal to a waiting Bartolillo who made no mistake in putting it into the back of the net.
Saskatchewan rebounded well after going down a goal and pressured the UNBC defence throughout the rest of the first half, but were unable to find the all-important final pass that would spring a player in on net.
The Timberwolves doubled their lead right before the end of the first half when a great individual run by McAvoy resulted in a loose ball bouncing around the Saskatchewan penalty area. Once again Bartolillo was in the right place at the right time and gave the Timberwolves a 2-0 lead.
Content to hold onto that lead, the Timberwolves started the second half by sitting deep and soaking up the pressure that the Huskies applied.
Saskatchewan had multiple chances to get on the board in the second half, with their best opportunity coming from second half substitute Nikolas Baikas.
After Buckley made a fantastic diving save from a Bartolillo free kick, Saskatchewan jumped on the counter-attack. With multiple Huskies driving down the field, Baikas received the ball at full stride and uncorked an effort towards net that just barely missed the target.
Rowlands would snuff out any hope of a Huskie comeback when he scored in the 80th minute.
Bartolillo whipped in a beautiful free kick and Rowlands rose highest in the 18-yard box to power the ball past a helpless Buckley.
Both of these teams are back in action next weekend. Saskatchewan will head to B.C. to take on the Fraser Valley Cascades and UBC Okanagan Heat on Sep. 21 and 23 respectively while UNBC will play host to the Lethbridge Pronghorns and Calgary Dinos on those same days.
All of that action can be watched live on canadawest.tv