VIDEO: MEN’S SOCCER HOSTS CALGARY AND LETHBRIDGE

MEN’S SOCCER (CANADA WEST)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEN’S SOCCER HOSTS CALGARY AND LETHBRIDGE

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Spartans men's soccer team (3-2-3) wraps up its regular season home schedule this weekend as they play No. 9 ranked Calgary (5-1-2) Friday and Lethbridge (1-6-1) Saturday. The Spartans are coming off a 2-2 draw with UBC last Friday and are hoping to build upon a solid performance.
 
Watch the games live HERE and follow the live stats HERE.



SPARTANS (3-2-3)
CIS Ranking: N/A
Canada West Standing: 4th
Last Week: UBC 2-2
Streak: 1 Tie
2009 conference record: 8-2-4 (2nd)
2009 CW Championship: 0-2 (4th)
2009 CIS Championship: 2-1 (3rd)
Last CW title: 2007
Last CIS title: N/A
TWU Lifetime vs Calgary: 20-4-4
TWU Lifetime vs Lethbridge: 16-2-1

Last week, Trinity Western suffered about as heart-breaking of a draw as possible. The Spartans held a 2-1 lead UBC and were playing well into stoppage time when the Thunderbirds were awarded a penalty kick, which they converted, on what turned out to be the last play of the match.

The draw was a respectable result against the now No. 5 ranked T-Birds but hardly satisfying for TWU when a win had seemed imminent.

This week, they hope to improve on that result in their final regular season home weekend of the year.  

Through eight games this year, the Spartans statistical analysis provides something of a middling result. Trinity Western is tied for fifth in Canada West with 11 goals, it’s tied for fourth in shots with 14.88 per game, it’s tied for fourth in goals allowed with 1.25 per game but is tied for second in shutouts with four.

Offensively, once again, it was Danfi Parker (Woodbridge, Va.) leading the way as this week’s Canada West Player of the Week scored both Spartans goals to move him into a tie for second in CW with six markers. Parker is also tied for first in the conference with 3.50 shots per game and is tied for fourth with seven points.

After Parker, Garrett Peters (Regina, Sask.) has two goals while Andre Costa (Ipatinga, Brazil), Cardin Davis (Salt Spring Island, B.C.) and Rhys Volkenant (Surrey, B.C.) have singles.

On defence, the back line has had a variety of faces starting for the Spartans. Because of injuries and simply changing the lineup after a 4-0 home loss to Albert the previous weekend, last week’s starters included freshman Cody Strelau (Langley, B.C.) (his first game as a Spartan), Craig Rohla (Langley, B.C. ) (his second ever start as a Spartan), Volkenant (sixth start of the year) and Davis (sixth start of the year).

Goalkeeper Andrew Kowan (Richmond, B.C.) got his second start of the year last Friday, allowing two goals  (one via a penalty kick) on three shots on target. Kowan has a 2.50 goals against average and a .375 save percentage. Andrew Fink has started the other six games, posting a 0.83 GAA (3rd in CW), a .833 save percentage (3rd in CW) and has averaged a conference best 0.67 shutouts per game.

DINOS (5-1-2)
CIS Ranking: 9th
Canada West Standing: 2nd
Last Week: Lethbridge 1-0 W, Lethbridge 2-0 W
Streak: 2 Win
2009 CW Record: 4-7-3, 5th
2009 CW Tournament: N/A
2009 CIS Tournament: N/A
Last CW Title: 1980
Last CIS Title: N/A
Calgary Lifetime vs TWU: 4-20-4

The Calgary Dinos are off to a hot start this year and, for that, they can thank their defence and goaltending.
After posting a pair of shutouts last weekend in wins over Lethbridge, the Dinos have only allowed a conference low six goals in eight games for a 0.75 goals against average.

Goalkeeper J.P. Crescenzi leads the conference in shutouts with five, in save percentage (.882) and is second in GAA (0.75). He has also made 5.62 saves per game (3rd in CW).

While Crescenzi, who has started all eight games, has been dominant between the posts, the defensive front of Jeff Marsden (started all eight games), Matt Reid (started all eight games), Dustin Ruddell (started all eight games) and Ilya Zelinskiy (started seven of eight games) has played a key role in the Dinos goal-stopping success.

Although the defence has been the Dinos calling card, forward Izak Lawrence has done his part to keep the offence churning. Lawrence has six goals this year (tied for 2nd in CW), eight points (tied for 2nd), 20 shots (10th) and three game-winning goals (1st).

After Lawrence, Brian Delaney has three goals and one assist, Brett Howard has three assists and Jeremy Jenkyns has a pair of goals.

PRONGHORNS (1-6-1)
CIS Ranking: N/A
Canada West Standing: 7th (tied)
Last Week: Calgary 1-0 L, Calgary 2-0 L
Streak: 3 Losses
2009 CW Record: 2-7-5, 7th
2009 CW Tournament: N/A
2009 CIS Tournament: N/A
Last CW Title: N/A
Last CIS Title: N/A
Lethbridge Lifetime vs TWU: 2-16-1

The Pronghorns come to Rogers Park just looking to salvage something from a season gone wrong. Lethbridge has not played since losing back-to-back games against Calgary on Oct. 2-3. They have not won since beating Victoria 1-0 on Sept. 12 and have not scored a goal since Sept. 25 when they held TWU to a 1-1 draw.

The problems thus far for Lethbridge have stemmed from its inability to score goals. The Pronghorns have scored three goals in eight games (least in CW) despite being tied for fourth in CW with 14.88 shots per game.

No Pronghorn has notched more than one point this year as Blake Irvine, Brett Silbernagel and Marcus Johnston each have a goal while Andrew Malcolm and Steven Brown each have one assist.

And it doesn’t get any better defensively. Lethbridge has allowed a conference-high 21 goals, which gives them a goals against average of 2.62.

Goalie Colin Pattison has played in seven of the team’s eight games and has a 1.56 GAA (6th in CW), a .828 save percentage (4th in CW) but has made the most saves per game with 6.86.

The bright side for Lethbridge on Saturday is that there are only two teams the Pronghorns have taken points from, Victoria and TWU, and they’re playing one of them.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2010-10-13
Author: Mark Janzen