LANGLEY, British Columbia – Fifth-year Trinity Western women's soccer striker Ali Oliverio (Calgary) tallied her first ever CIS hat-trick as she led the No. 9 Spartans to a 4-0 win over Winnipeg Friday at Rogers Field.
Oliverio scored both of the Spartans goals in the first half before earning her third midway through the second half. With her three goals, Oliverio now leads Canada West in goal-scoring, with nine on the season.
The Spartans Jenaya Robertson (Delta, B.C.) also got in on the scoring, picking up her fourth goal of the season.
TWU goalie Ally Wiliamson (Langley) only had to make one save to earn her sixth clean sheet in her last eight outings. Winnipeg Justina Jarmoszko made four saves on eight shots.
The win sees TWU (8-1-2) increase its unbeaten streak to 10 games and puts the Spartans into first place in the Pacific Division as they passed idle UBC. Winnipeg drops to 1-9-1 on the season.
"I was really pleased with how we played tonight," said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh. "I thought we passed the ball very well. We started with good energy and the tempo was good. When we pass like that on our field, we're going to be formidable. But credit to Winnipeg. I thought they were pesky and tenacious and aggressive and made it difficult to them break down."
Oliverio opened the scoring just five minutes into the game as she took a pass from first-year midfielder Rachel Hutchinson (Cloverdale, B.C.) at the top of the box and slotted it home to the bottom left corner.
That set the tone for the rest of the night.
"I think the early goal from Ali settled us down and we got playing and we saw some really good contributions from lots of players," Roxburgh said. "The nice thing is that we have options offensively. Rachel (Hutchinson, Cloverdale, B.C.) gave us great energy down the wing early on and Seina (Kashima, Burnaby, B.C.) was good in terms of her desire to go past people and generate chances. Krista (Gommeringer, Calgary) is not only a goal-scorer, but she's a distributor. And obviously Vanessa Kovacs (North Delta, B.C.) and Jenaya are workhorses in the midfield and Ali gets to show a little of her magic in terms of her technical finish."
In the 24th minute, it was Oliverio putting that magic on display again as she found a loose ball in the box off a Gommeringer corner and buried it.
After outshooting Winnipeg 15-0 in the first half, TWU went into the break leading 2-0.
The Spartans continued to press in the second half, outshooting Winnipeg 9-1 over the final 45 minutes, and were eventually rewarded when Robertson scored in the 80th minute on a glancing header from a Gommeringer free kick.
In the 85th minute, Oliverio capped her impressive night with her third of the contest, when she dribbled through a pair of Wesmen at the top of the box and slid it under Winnipeg's Jarmoszko.
The Spartans are back on the pitch Saturday when they host Manitoba in their final home regular season game of the year at 5 p.m. Graduating seniors Sarah-Kim Bergeron (Calgary), Jolayne Whitmarsh (Langley), Vanessa Kovacs (North Delta, B.C.) and Oliverio will be honoured following Saturday's game.
Winnipeg will travel to Abbotsford, B.C. to take on Fraser Valley Saturday at 6:15 p.m.
Game Notes: TWU's Bergeron came on late in the match to get into her first game since 2011…Bergeron has dealt with a bevy of injuries since her rookie year in 2011…Winnipeg's Maeghan Lindsay was shown a yellow in the 59th minute.
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