Lance Doucet, Dinos Communications

CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos held off the potent Alberta Golden Bears for 47 minutes on Sunday afternoon at the West Varsity Soccer Pitch, but a pair of second-half goals earned the Northern Alberta team a 2-0 win.

The Golden Bears remain undefeated with the victory, moving to 11-0-2 on the season. Calgary maintains second place in the Prairie Division behind Alberta with a record of 5-6-1.

"It gets tighter, we have players sitting on yellow cards – we aren't the only ones – we are going to have to be disciplined with what we do but still play our game," said Dinos head coach Brendan O'Connell. "We wanted to get at them through midfield today. In fairness, it worked until they scored and the game changed, we had to go for it."

The Dinos were more patient and conservative in their approach on Sunday than they had through most of the season at home. While Alberta continued to press on, they had their scoring chances limited with Calgary paying particular attention to Canada West's top goal scorer Easton Ongaro.

Alberta had seven shot attempts, but none of them found their way to Jake Ruschkowski, while Connor James stopped the only shot he faced in the opening 45 minutes.

The Prairie Division leaders broke through in the 48th minute on some beautiful passing between Ajeej Sarkaria and Daniel Barker-Rothsc. From just outside the box, Sarkaria had his back to the net when he dished the ball to Barker-Rothsc, who found some room and beat the Dinos goalkeeper.

Calgary sped up their game in response but was unable to muster a strong challenge on the Alberta net.

The Golden Bears added insurance in the 78th minute as the conference's all-time scoring leader Sarkaria converted on a penalty kick.

Alberta outshot Calgary 13-5 in the match. Ruschkowski and James both finished with two saves for their respective teams.

Prior to the match, the Dinos recognized their lone fifth-year athlete, defender Ryan Doering, who played his final game at the West Varsity Soccer Pitch.

"He has been brilliant. He has been a regular, which means you are a good player. It is emotional for him because it is the last time playing on this pitch and you are moving onto a new life after this," mentioned
O'Connell. "He has been a great servant for this program."

The Dinos hit the road next week for games against the Lethbridge Pronghorns and Saskatchewan Huskies to determine where they will begin the postseason.

Alberta has one more game on their schedule before the playoffs as they return home to host the MacEwan Griffins on Oct. 20.

-UC-

Photo by David Moll