VICTORIA – The University of Victoria Vikes men's soccer team rode the momentum of a three-goal first-half to a 5-1 win over Trinity Western Saturday at Centennial Stadium.

The loss sees the Spartans finish the regular season in fourth place in the Pacific Division with a record of 5-5-2. However, with their top four showing, the Spartans will make a return to the post-season after a two year hiatus and will travel to play Alberta or Calgary in the Canada West Quarter-Finals next weekend.

Michael Baart's third goal in two games opened the scoring before Cam Hundal and Isaac Koch netted in the first-half to give the Vikes a 3-0 lead at the break. Hundal added a second for his eighth goal of the season and Colantonio notched a final-minute marker.
 
Leighton Johnson (Calgary) added a consolation goal for the Spartans in the 86th minute on a nice placement top shelf past Noah Pawlowski, who made three saves in the victory. Spartans goalkeeper Andrew Hicks (Surrey, B.C.) made three saves in the loss.
 
"It was the Cam Hundal Show tonight," said Spartans coach Pat Rohla. "He was fantastic. You have to give him credit.

"For us everything that we turned over and all the things that we try to avoid came back to haunt us in terms of transition play and creating counterattacks. We got punished on every mistake. I think some of that shows our age and some of it shows the areas we need to work on.

"Despite the loss, there were a couple good performances. Vito Poletto (Calgary) put in a good shift. Elijah Adekugbe (Calgary) was again very good and I thought Leighton Johnson was spectacular when he came in the second half. We tried a lot of different things and moved a few people around, but we keep leaking in the goals that hurt us at critical times. Overall, it wasn't the performance we wanted but I thought there were some bright lights with a few players."

The Vikes took the lead on the 10-minute mark when Koch crossed the ball into the middle of the box for Baart to take on a first-touch volley. The Vikes led 1-0 through Baart's third in two games after securing his first two goals of the season on Oct. 23 against Fraser Valley.
 
Hundal came close in the 21st minute when he tried to chip Spartans goalkeeper Hicks, but struck the crossbar. Hundal found his seventh goal of the season, however, for a 2-0 Vikes lead in the 38th minute off a well-laced shot to the far corner off a pass from Tarnvir Bhandal.
 
Koch wrapped up a solid first-half for the Vikes when he drove wide and placed his shot far post past Hicks. Hundal got in on the action with the assist to find Koch on the left side of the midfield prior to the goal.
 
The Vikes picked up after the break where they left off from the restart with Hundal's second of the game and eighth goal of the season in the 69th minute when he finished off a pass from Sam Prette.
 
The Spartans added consolation on a nice goal from Johnson in the 86th minute when his shot beat Pawlowski. Vikes veteran Colantonio restored the four-goal lead in the 90th minute when Hundal picked up his fourth point and second assist on a through ball to a streaking Colantonio. He finished easily to make it 5-1 and wrap up the three points for the Vikes.
 
Game Notes: The Spartans came into the game knowing that a win, coupled with UBC earning a result against UFV, would have earned TWU home field advantage in the quarter-finals…TWU's Joel Waterman (Aldergrove, B.C.) was shown a yellow card in the 61st minute…the winner of the quarter-final game will advance to the Canada West Final Four, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed in the Pacific Division.

-TW-