Scheduled Game: BRITISH COLUMBIA*

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 T British Columbia 1 0 1 Trinity Western 2 0 2 « FINAL

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Game Recap

MEN’S SOCCER (CANADA WEST)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2009
TWU SPARTANS (2) VS. THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (1)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NO. 1 SPARTANS HOLD ON OVER THUNDERBIRDS

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The battle between the No. 1 Trinity Western University men’s soccer team and the University of British Columbia lived up to the pre-game hype as the Spartans held on for a 2-1 victory over the visiting Thunderbirds.

TWU’s Nathan Pogue (Seaside, Ore.) played the hero for the Spartans as he netted two first half goals to keep the Spartans unbeaten at 5-0-2 and alone at the top of the Canada West standings. The Thunderbirds Matt Allard (Vancouver) scored the lone goal for the visitors as UBC fell to 4-3-0 and into third spot in Canada West.

“We talked before the game that we had to stay mentally focused throughout the match. Every time we play against UBC it is usually a mental mistake that we make so we had to stay composed in order to have success. The guys did it for the full 90 and credit to them,” commented TWU Associate Head Coach Mike Shearon.

Pogue, who leads Canada West with five goals, opened the scoring in the 20th minute. Pogue took a cross from teammate Ioannis Tsoulouhas (Bellingham, Wash.) and neatly chipped it in from about ten yards out directly in front of the UBC net.

The fourth year forward was at it again in the 42nd minute. TWU midfielder Jordan Whitehead (Surrey, B.C) whipped a ball into box where Pogue beat a number of UBC defenders to get his head on the ball. The ball glanced off of a Thunderbird and went past a diving Nikolai Matni (Brossard, Que.) and into the lower left corner of the Thunderbirds net.

“Any time you play UBC it is an emotional game and a huge occasion and you come out and give it everything that you’ve got. I actually told the guys to be a little more composed in the first 10-15 minutes and we came out and just went for it and had some good quality goals, which set us up well for the rest of the game,” commented Shearon on his teams fast start.

Trailing 2-0 and being outplayed the Thunderbirds increased their energy for the remainder of the half. UBC was rewarded for their efforts in extra time. Miguel Michelena (Queretaro, Mexico) took a cross into the centre of the TWU penalty area. The Thunderbirds’ Matt Allard met the ball and headed it past the Spartans Andrew Fink (Burnaby, B.C.) and into the top right corner of the TWU net to make it a one goal deficit.

Trailing 2-1 at the half the Thunderbirds came out strong in the second period. They had possession for much of the half and were consistently buzzing around the Spartans net.  Things became more desperate for TWU when they went down a man when Jake Jorgensen (Bellingham, Wash.) received his second yellow in the 74th minute. But despite the advantage UBC was unable to get many balls through the TWU defenders.

Things were evened up man-power wise in the 79th minute when UBC’s Greg Smith (Abbotsford, B.C.) was redcarded in the centre of the park.

In the dying minutes it looked like UBC was going to tie the match when the Thunderbirds Steve Johnson (Tsawwassen, B.C.) was alone with the ball near the penalty spot. Johnson one-touched the pass into him but his shot sailed wide right as TWU held on for the victory.

TWU’s Andrew Fink made three saves to record his third win of the season, while UBC’s Nikolai Matni made four saves in the loss.

The two teams are off for the remainder of the week, but will both be on the road again next weekend when they host the University of Victoria and the University of the Fraser Valley. TWU will play the Vikes on Friday and the Cascades on Saturday. Both matches have 7:15 p.m. kick-offs…

Match Notes: Pogue’s two goals give him 32 on his career which ties him with Adrian Kekec (’09) for most career goals as a Spartan…TWU leads the overall series at 9-6-5 and are 5-1-1 in their last seven meetings with the Thunderbirds…TWU outshot UBC 11-10…TWU’ Associate Head Coach Mike Shearon led the Spartans while the Spartans head coach Pat Rohla was serving a one game suspension for getting a red card last week in Victoria…

-TW-

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