By Bailey Martens, Trinity Western University
LANGLEY, B.C. – The Trinity Western men's soccer team played to a scoreless draw with No. 8 Alberta on a rainy Saturday night at Chase Office Field.
TWU's Domenic Poletto (Calgary) had a brilliant chance in second half stoppage time, with a free kick from just outside the box, but the Spartans midfielder was stopped by Alberta goalie Connor James.
Caleb Jemmott (Calgary) also had a shot in stoppage time, but his attempt went wide left.
The Spartans had 19 total shots while the Golden Bears only managed 10. Trinity Western also had five shots on goal against Connor James while Alberta had two on the Spartans Sebastian Colyn (Langley, B.C.).
TWU is now 3-1-4 on the season, while the Bears are 7-0-2.
Since a loss to UBC, the Spartans are unbeaten in five outings (2-0-3).
The Golden Bear's best chance of the night came in the 22nd minute with Ajeej Sarkaria (Edmonton) firing a strong shot on target only to be stopped by Colyn.
In the 43rd minute, TWU's Jacob Low (Port Moody, B.C.) nearly scored as his shot bounced off the fingertips of James.
The second half saw little in terms for high quality chances until the waning moments when the Spartans applied pressure, looking for the go-ahead goal that never came.
The Spartans had the upper hand with six corner shots while the Golden Bears had just two opportunities.
TWU was playing without captain Joel Waterman (Aldergrove, B.C.), who missed the game after being shown a red card (two yellow cards) in the Spartans last outing.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Mike Shearon
"Tonight was a good battle. Alberta threw some different things at us that we weren't expecting and some our young guys had to step up and learn how to play tonight. We didn't have Joel (Waterman) tonight and some other veterans and so I'm really proud of the young guys who stepped up. The young kids have bought into everything and so it's just a matter of getting them up to speed as to what the game is like, but in terms of philosophy, nothing changes. It's been a year of adversity and that's what we need to continue to focus on.
"Alberta is a fantastic team and it was a fun game to be part of and it was a challenge. And, again, I was just really proud of our young players."
NOTABLE
• The game was a rematch of last year's Canada West semifinal, which TWU won 3-2 in overtime.
• TWU also beat Alberta 2-0 last year in the regular season. At the time of the win, the Bears were ranked No. 1 in the U SPORTS Top 10.
• This was Alberta's second scoreless draw of the season as they also tied Victoria 0-0 (Sept. 15).
• The last time TWU hosted Alberta (Sept. 27, 2013), the teams also played to a 0-0 tie.
UP NEXT
TWU is back at home next weekend when the Spartans host Thompson Rivers (Sept. 28) and UBC Okanagan (Sept. 29). Alberta returns to Edmonton to host Lethbridge (Sept. 29) and Saskatchewan (Sept. 30).
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