LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 10 ranked Spartans men's soccer team battled hard all the way to the end against the visiting Calgary Dinos, ultimately losing 1-0 after a late goal in Canada West quarter-final action on Saturday at Chase Office Field.
 
Mark Bohdan's goal for the Dinos in the 88^th minute was the difference in the match, as Calgary will now move on to play Mount Royal University next Saturday (Nov. 2) in the Canada West semifinals. 
 
The match began with chances tilted in Calgary's favour, as the Dinos forced Spartans goalkeeper Colyn to be busy, taking eight shots with four going on net.
 
Their best chance came in the 33^rd minute, as Derek Brust had his header saved in close by Colyn to keep it a scoreless tie.
 
Despite Calgary holding a 8-2 advantage in total shots, the Dinos and Spartans were held scoreless after 45 minutes.
 
Into the second half TWU looked like an entirely different team, controlling play and managing all kinds of shots on Jake Ruschkowski.
 
A substitution of Jackson Thomson (Langley) seemed to kickstart their chances, with Thomson managing three shots on goal over the final 45 minutes.
                                                           
The Spartans nearly had their first goal of the game after Pedro Paz Duarte's (Brasilia, Br.) bicycle kick attempt in the box at the 81^st minute was narrowly saved by goalkeeper Ruschkowski.
 
In a game that seemed destined for extra time, it was Calgary's Bohdan who played hero in the 88^thminute.
 
Bohdan willed his way to the Spartans box before spinning and shooting to the left of Colyn, beating the Spartans keeper and ultimately breaking the once scoreless tie. 
 
Despite a last push by the Spartans in the final few minutes, Calgary would hold on to defeat TWU at Chase Office Field.
 
TWU's Colyn (Langley) made all four of his saves in the first half, while nine of Calgary goalkeeper Ruschkowski's 10 saves came in the second half of play.
 
QUOTABLE
Mike Shearon – TWU Head Coach
 
"Any loss in the playoffs is horrible, but to give one up at the end there when I thought we got back in the game hurts. That's soccer sometimes, we had a number of opportunities that hit the crossbar that just didn't go in today. All credit to Calgary for putting a chance in and winning the game."
 
On Lessons From the Match
 
"We're a family and we will grow from this, but it's a shame the seniors are done. We really wanted to send them off on a good note so it's tough losing the game in this way. At the same time, in every hardship that happens in life there's ways of growing and making good out of it so we need to learn from this experience. Hopefully next year we'll have a great season and get it done for the guys that weren't able to this year." 
 
NOTABLE

• This was the fourth time in the last five years Calgary and TWU met in the CW quarter-finals. In their three previous quarter-final meetings, TWU earned a 1-0 win in 2015, a 6-2 win in 2017 and a 1-1 (4:3) win in 2018.
• TWU concluded the regular season second in the Pacific standings, with a 9-6-1 record, while Calgary finished third in the Prairie standings at 7-6-1.
• TWU's all-time record against the Dinos falls to 25-12-3, including a 16-4-3 home record.

 
 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
 
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