A 'short staffed' Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's soccer team dropped their fourth straight match in Canada West action on Sunday (Sept 27). The WolfPack fell to 2-5-1 on the season as they were blanked 4-0 by the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds at Hillside Stadium.
The Thunderbirds move to 6-1 on the season.
"I knew that coming in that TRU is a well-coached team and have some offensive threats," said UBC head coach Marisa Kovacs. "It was going to be a 90 minute battle coming off playing yesterday against UBCO. I didn't want fatigue to be a factor. I think we bounced back. It was a close match for most of the match but the chances we created started to pay off."
The Thunderbirds opened the scoring early. At the five minute mark, Madison Guy (4th year, midfield, Delta, BC) was able to take a shot just outside the box and beat WolfPack keeper Taylor Shantz (5th year, Kamloops, BC) on the lower left side of the net for the only goal of the first half.
In the second half, Jasmin Dhanda (3rd year, forward, Surrey, BC) found a loose ball at the top of the box had lots of space and went to her left side to put the ball in for her third goal of the seaon. That game in the 69 th minute.
In the 74th minute, Shantz and defender Miyoko McKeown (4th year, Port Moody, BC) collided with Dhanda in the box. The UBC forward was awarded a penalty shot and scored to put UBC up 3-0.
Two minutes later (76th minute). Shalay Chorney (4th year, forward, Vancouver, BC) was credited with a goal which was scored when the ball deflected off a TRU defender and into the net.
"I thought our build up was quality and eventually we started to finish which is something we wanted to focus on," Kovacs explained when asked about what she liked about her team. " Obviously game in and game out it is something we want to focus on. We squandered a few chances yesterday and we didn't want that to happen today.
Dhanda was named the UBC player of the game.
The TRU Bookstore/McDonald's "Leader of the Pack" Player of the Match was Danielle Fauteux (5th year, forward, Kamloops, BC). She was solid all weekend.
"We gave 100 per cent for as long as we could," said WolfPack head coach Tom McManus. " Sadly injuries are starting to pile up and I think that is what killed us in the last eight minutes. UBC came out hard in the first half. My girls picked it up and started to knock the ball around but we came out better in the second. We were pushing at times. It was a good match against one of the top teams in the country."
McManus agreed with the assessment his team looked 'out of sorts' because they were forced to play different positions. " It is difficult when we lose a lot of players. We are going to keep on pushing and see what happens."
The WolfPack have a bye next week and don't return to play in the Canada West until Friday October 9 th at UBCO. Their next home match is Saturday, October 10 th at Hillside Stadium. It is a 5 pm kick off against the same UBCO Heat.
UBC will return home to entertain Regina and Saskatchwan next Friday and Saturday (Oct 2-3).