Daniel Davidson scored a hat trick as the University of the Fraser Valley men's soccer team made sure the final home game of fifth-year captain Colton O'Neill's varsity career was a successful one, earning a 4-1 victory over the Trinity Western University Spartans on Friday night.
O'Neill, a Canada West first team all-star last season, was honoured in a brief ceremony before kickoff.
The Cascades parlayed the pregame festivities into an early lead. In the third minute, O'Neill's brother Connor sent midfielder Kree Byrne down the right wing where he delivered a low cross into the box. The ball skipped to striker Davidson who struck the ball past TWU goalkeeper Andrew Hicks to open the scoring.
UFV keeper Alex Skrzeta kept the Spartans off the scoresheet with a big stop in the 26th minute. Winger Jarvis Ambaka outpaced Connor O'Neill down the left flank and put the ball across goal where Leighton Johnson got on the end of it, but the Spartans striker shot the ball right at Skrzeta.
UFV doubled their lead in the 34th minute after some great pressure by James Najman. Spartan defender Kalem Scott tried to escape the UFV forward's pursuit but couldn't get away as Najman tracked the ball and touched it back to the oncoming Connor MacMillan. MacMillan took full advantage, slotting the ball past the outstretched arms of Hicks.
Davidson notched his second goal of the game six minutes into the second half. Cascades midfielder Justin Sekhon played the ball forward to Najman, who deftly flicked it to Davidson. He bore down on goal and made no mistake, lifting the ball under the crossbar to give UFV a 3-0 lead.
Moments later, Najman made his presence felt again as he hustled into the box and moved the ball past Spartan defender Taylor Johnson. With Najman charging, Johnson had no choice but to bring the fourth-year forward down. On the ensuing penalty kick, Davidson slotted the ball down the center of the goal to earn the hat trick and ring up the Cascade lead to four.
Trinity Western got one back in the 74th minute. Cascade defender Sukhjit Dhaliwal was whistled for a penalty just outside the 18, giving Elijah Adekugbe a free kick from a prime location. The second year midfielder struck the ball flush, curling it around the wall and into the bottom right corner of the net.
The Cascades defended well the rest of the way to boost their record to 5-3-1. TWU now sits at 3-3-1. The venue switches in favour of the Spartans on Tuesday when the two teams clash at Rogers Field on the Trinity Western University campus (7:15 p.m. kickoff).
"It's nice to score, obviously, but it's a team effort," Davidson said. "As long as someone's scoring, I'm happy with that. But it was nice to see the ball come my way a couple times, and I was there are the right place and the right time, and was able to put it in the back of the net."
- by Russell Arbuthnot, UFV Cascades communications staff