(BRAEDAN WILLIS, VIKES COMMUNICATIONS)
VICTORIA- The University of Victoria Vikes conceded two second half goals to the Trinity Western Spartans and ultimately lost by a final score of 2-1 on Oct.12 at Centennial Stadium in Victoria. The Vikes carried a 1-0 lead going into the half time break but two goals from third-year Spartan Jacob Low gave Trinity Western the victory.
"We seemed sluggish in the first half and UVic took advantage of that with their first goal," said Spartan head coach Mike Shearon. "There are some things we need to fix going into our final two games of the season but overall I am happy we were able to came back and pick up the victory tonight."
Despite holding a 1-0 lead at half time and having several chances in the opening half, the Vikes conceded an early second half goal giving momentum to Trinity Western.
"After how we performed in the first half I thought we deserved to be put by a goal," said Bruce Wilson, head coach of the Vikes. "We knew the next goal would be a turning point in the game. Our team couldn't put away our chances but they were able to capitalize on theirs."
With the win, the Spartans improve to 8-1-4 on the season and Victoria falls to 3-7-3 with the loss.
The Spartans had the games first prime scoring opportunity. In the sixth minute, Aidan Moore found himself in alone but put his shot went high and wide over the Vikes net. Hill opened the scoring for Victoria in the match when he found space behind the Spartan defenders. The Third-year Vike made no mistake, beating the Trinity Western goalkeeper Sebastian Colyn to give the Vikes the 1-0 lead in the 33rdminute. The home side had a long distance shot from Xavier Araujo that almost fooled the Spartan keeper Colyn late in the first half but the score would remain 1-0 in favour of the Vikes at the break.
The Spartans struck early in the second half to tie the game up at 1-1. The Trinity Western cross ended up on the head of Low, who deflected the ball past Victoria keeper Jas Lally for the first Spartan goal. The Vikes would answer back with a flurry of chances from Matteo Ventura, Evan Libke and Araujo but they weren't able to solve the Spartan keeper, Colyn. Low would score his second goal of the match in the 79thminute, picking up the lose ball off a Trinity Western corner and finding the back of the net. Low's second proved to be the game winner, with the final score reading 2-1 for the Spartans.
Trinity Western will return home and host the first-place UBC Thunderbirds tomorrow, Oct. 13. The Vikes will remain at home and welcome the Fraser Valley Cascades to Centennial Stadium on Saturday Oct. 13. All games can be watched live at canadawest.tv.
SCORING SUMMARY
1 2: F
TWU: 0 2: 2
VIC: 1 0: 1
GAME MVPs
TWU: #20 Jacob Low
VIC: #9 Ian Whibley