By Larry Read

TRU Sports Information Officer

 The University of Fraser Valley Cascades scored two goals within a two minute span in the first half and rolled to a 3-0 win over the hometown Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in Canada West women's soccer on Sunday (Sept 25).

 SYNOPSIS:

The WolfPack ended their first home stand of the 2016-17 Canada West season with a win and three losses as they fell to the Cascades.  TRU has a record of 1-5 on the year while the Cascades improve to 4-1-2.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

click here

KEY STATS:

Goal scoring:

1. UFV:  (34:44)  Monika Levarsky (3^rd year, forward, Surrey, BC) scored her first goal of the season as she capitalized on a deflction following a pass by teammate Danica Kump (5^th year, forward, Surrey, BC)      UFV 1  TRU 0
2. UFV:  (36:48)   Sunayna Samra (5^th year, midfield, Langley, BC) scored on a "Bend it like Beckham" corner kick.  Her first goal of the year.  UFV 2  TRU 0  at the half
3. UFV: (56:46)  Simi Lehal (1^st year, forward, Surrey, BC) took the cross from Kump and headed the ball in for her first Canada West goal.  UFV 3   TRU 0  Final

Corner Kicks:    Fraser Valley   12 (seven in first half)   TRU 3 (two in first half)

Saves:      Fraser Valley (Emily Harold, 4^th year, Langley, BC)  0  TRU (Alyssa Smith, 1^st year, Langley, BC) 6 (five in first half)

Shots by Period:   Fraser Valley  23 (16 in first half)   TRU   9  (five in second half)

Saves by Period:  Fraser Valley 0  TRU  6 (five in first half)

Fouls           Fraser Valley 3 (2 in second half)   TRU  10 (seven in first half)

RECORDS:

Fraser Valley  4-1-2    TRU  1-5

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Kelly Shantz

ON THE GAME:  "Lots of adversity today. We didn't have a good day. I looked at our starting line up again and we had eight freshmen taking the field and playing 180 minutes this weekend against Trinity Western yesterday and Fraser Valley today. I looked at the scoreline (3-0) and I am still pretty happy with the progress we made. I guess it feels good to me and the players that we are not satisfied now. We are getting much lower scores against good teams. We aren't satisfied with that.  That is good. It stings a bit because we are improving."

University of Fraser Valley Cascades head coach Rob Giesbrecht:

ON CONTEST:  "I thought we were worthy of the three points. I wish our finishing was a bit sharper. To their credit they came battling. They made it tough for us."

ON PLAY OF LEVARSKY,DHALIWAL AND CARRUTHERS:  "I wish they were there a bit more today because we could have scored a few more times if we converted our chances. They were difference makers. I thought Danika Kump had a real good game too."

ON PLAYING A TEAM THAT IS REBUILDING. IS IT TOUGH TO STAY MENTALLY SHARP?"  I don't think so. We are a mature team.  We have been at this for a while. We have a goal that we have to accomplish this year. We know that to get there we have to get the three points. We are going to face teams like Thompson Rivers that are in the 'building stages': that are organized and make it difficult. We don't take them lightly. If teams come here and do that they will drop points. We don't want that to be us."

ON SHUTOUT BY EMILY HAROLD: "She was excellent. She has a very tough role on our team because our starter is very good.  Emily is a great servant to our team. We decided to give her this game to get her some experience and reward her for all her hard work. She was fantastic today."

UP NEXT:

The WolfPack have two tough matches as they hit the road for games in Victoria and Vancouver on September 30-October 1^st. The Vikes spoiled the WolfPack home opener last year (Sept 26) with a 3-0 setback at Hillside.  One afternoon later (Sept 27), UBC came into Kamloops and beat TRU.

UBC and the WolfPack met in the Canada West quarterfinals last year (Oct 30) with TRU falling 6-1 at Thunderbird Stadium.

The Cascades return home to face the UNBC Timberwolves and the Alberta Pandas next weekend (Sept 30-Oct 1).

OF NOTE:   The "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack Player of the Match" was: Mia Simpson (1^st year, defender, Delta, BC).   Shantz explains her selection: " We have a bit of an approach as a coaching staff. It isn't necessarily the best player on the field for us. That could have gone to five or six other players who were warriors for three or four games now.  Mia gets it because she wasn't the best player on the field but she had her best day. She is learning and improving. Remarkably over the last week or two and played 90 minutes against a quality opponent and had a lot of good minutes. This was a reward for her for paying attention in the last four weeks of training and becoming a better player as opposed to being the best player on the park today. That could have gone to Christine Fergin (3^rd year, defender, Waterloo, ON) or Cassie Morris (1^st year, defender, Kamloops, BC) or Keenan Deegen (1^st year, midfield, Kamloops, BC)  or any of the other freshmen who have played 180 minutes over the last two days and just battled it all the way through."