The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s soccer team extended their unbeaten streak to seven matches as they stopped the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 2-1 Sunday afternoon in Saskatoon.
Playing without two of their regulars, the WolfPack improved to 4-1-4. Jason Staiger returned to the WolfPack lineup from injury and the Agassiz, B.C. native scored the winning goal in the 62nd minute. It was his first Canada West marker.
Justin Donaldson had the other goal for TRU. He has three on the year and a Canada West leading 35 shots on goal thus far this season.
The WolfPack played without Ryan Glanville (5th year, midfield, Williams Lake and Maxime Fieujean (2nd year, defender, Servas, France) who were sitting out one- match suspensions for red cards against Mount Royal. They were replaced as starters by Antoine Leveille (1st year, midfield, Winnipeg) and Tony Paiero (1st year, defender, North Vancouver).
Vernon’s Finlay McPhie and Michael Bennett, both fourth-year defenders, and freshman midfielder Scott Kramer, are on the WolfPack roster.
“We were happy with the win,” said TRU coach John Antulov. “It was one of those ones where we had to really gut it out. We played solid defensively and took advantage of our opportunities. A lot of the guys were tired from the day before (playing down two men and doing a lot of running). They really had to gut it out today and work hard. Our fitness and depth showed. We were playing against a really good side.”
The WolfPack drew 2-2 with the Mount Royal University Cougars 2-2 in Canada West play Saturday in Calgary.
The WolfPack led 1-0 at the half and gave up two goals in the second 45 minutes.
TRU got goals from Fieujean and Jan Pirrates-Glacsmacher (1st year, defender, Barcelona, Spain). Alex Ram (1st year, keeper, Leicester, England) made his first Canada West start and made two saves.
The WolfPack entertain the University of Fraser Valley Cascades in a noon kick off Saturday. The will be a “Canada West TV Game of the Week” and be free of charge for the public.
All of the WolfPack matches—home and away—will be webcast on a pay per view basis on www.Canadawest.TV.
The WolfPack are hosting the 2017 USport Men’s Soccer Nationals, Nov. 9-12.
In women’s play, the WolfPack, coming off their first win of the season, fell 6-0 to the visiting UBC Thunderbirds Saturday at Hillside Stadium before losing 4-0 to the University of Victoria Vikings Sunday.
The Thunderbirds handed TRU their fourth loss in five starts. UBC outshot TRU 30-10.
Jasmin Dhanda of UBC – the Canada West’s leading scorer – had four goals as she moved to nine on the campaign. It was UBC’s highest scoring match of the year.
The score would have been higher if not for the performance of TRU keeper Dannielle Robertson who made a number of big saves.
The Vikes got a second half hat trick from Kiara Kilbey Sunday afternoon. Kilbey, a third-year forward from Victoria, now has six goals on the season. Keeper Puck Louwes (3rd year, Utrecht, Holland) notched her second straight shutout.
Madison Catt of Vernon, a Fulton Maroons grad, is a freshman defender with the WolfPack. TRU visits the Fraser Valley Cascades Friday in Abbotsford.