Max Sturley, Dinos Communications

CALGARY – On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the University of Calgary Dinos capped off the weekend with a 2-1 victory over the University of Victoria Vikes, making it three straight wins for the Dinos.

The Dinos opened the scoring early on, as forward Jorge Leon Gomez ran onto a pass from Dominic Russo and smashed the ball into far corner, giving Calgary the lead in the 13th minute. Leon Gomez's third of the season was the result of furious opening pressure from Calgary.

Victoria responded quickly, in the 22nd minute as Vikes midfielder Dorian Colopisis was awarded a free kick from distance, in which he made no mistake, striking the ball over the Dinos defence and past goaltender, Hunter Brett, for the tying goal. 

The remainder of the first half was highlighted by the Dinos offensive pressure, including promising rushes from Bori Falaye and Dominic Russo. Despite these efforts, the score remained 1-1 going into the second half, with the Dinos leading in shot attempts, 11-4. 

Entering the second half, just eight minutes in, Dominic Russo received a pass from Dominick Zator, beat the Vikes defence and deked past the Vikes goaltender, Noah Pawlowski, before running the ball into the net. The effort from Russo gave him his team leading 11th goal of the season. 

"It was a tough game, we were expecting a tough game today" explained Coach Brendan O'Connell. "We stuck in there, created chances and the second half we kept it going again" he added.

From there, it was Calgary controlling the majority of the play in the offensive side of the field, as they attempted 15 shots in the second half, including a shot off the post from midfielder, Robin Whittaker. 

The Vikes had their chances to tie the game, notably having been awarded six free kicks, five of them coming in the second half. Their efforts were not enough as the Dinos defence stepped up again, and prevented any threats from coming to fruition. 

"We've got a lot of depth, we've got a lot of character, we've got a lot of flare, we're strong right now" as O'Connell praised his squad. "We've got a big weekend coming up with University of Alberta, which is one of the main culprits at the top of the league" added O'Connell in light of the next weekend. 

The Victoria Vikes will be in Langley on Sept. 30 to take on Trinity Western at 7:15 p.m. The Dinos will continue their home stand as they will play against the MacEwan Griffins, Saturday Oct. 1 at 2:15 p.m. at the West Varsity Soccer Pitch.

-UC-

Photo by David Moll