CALGARY – The Trinity Western men's soccer team fell behind early and were unable to find the back of the net as they dropped a 5-0 decision to the Mount Royal Cougars Sunday afternoon at MRU Stadium Field in Calgary, Alta.
 
The loss drops the Spartans to 4-4-0, while the win improves the Cougars to 7-2-0
 
MRU's Trevor MacPhee scored three times, while teammate Mohamed El Gandour scored twice for the Cougars.
 
The Cougars Sterling Kerr made three saves to earn the shutout victory, while the Spartans third year keeper Sabastian Colyn (Langley, B.C.) made four saves for the Spartans.
 
Mount Royal's forward Mohamed El Gandour scored the first goal of the day just eight minutes in on a penalty kick, rebounding off the crossbar.
 
The Cougars' Kerr worked hard in the first half, having to stave off a series of attempts on net. The Spartans were fighting fiercely to gain the upper hand, but were tripped up by a series of fouls. One such foul led to a corner kick by Cougars midfielder Dane Domic, leader in the Canada West scoring average. After a battle in front of the Trinity Western net, MacPhee shot through the mass of bodies to earn his first goal of the season.
 
El Gandour was tripped up by a Spartan, awarding him a clean penalty kick leading to the Cougars' third goal. The Spartans made several attempts in the Cougars' zone, but were met head-on by Kerr.
 
Trinity Western's Colyn was facing a torrent of shots from Mount Royal as the Spartan defence struggled to fend them off. Cougars' defenseman MacPhee achieved his second goal of the day with assistance from Domic, bringing the lead to 4-0. The Spartans fought hard to make a dent but were thwarted by the halftime whistle.
 
The Spartans began the second half with a strong offensive and a resilient defence. They soon managed a header shot on net but were thwarted by Kerr. A Cougars shot on the Trinity Western net was also met with an agile save by Colyn.
 
At 61 minutes, Trevor MacPhee earned a hat trick with an assist from El Gandour, bringing the Cougars lead to 5-0. It was promptly followed by a hard take down of Orest Ndabaneze by Trinity Western's Caleb Johnson, earning a yellow card.
 
Trinity Western made a series of substitutions which made a real difference as they gained several shots on Kerr. They finally sunk one deep into the net but were foiled by an offside call. The Spartans had several close calls in front of net but just couldn't make it past the Cougars defence.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Mike Shearon
"Obviously not happy with the result, we were a better team than what the result was, but in the end we didn't score. We had a couple of chances before they scored their PK, but we didn't take those. And goals change games and in the end they got theirs."
 
"We need to continue to grow and continue to learn. This week coming up is an important week for us. We are going up to the Okanagan and it is going to be difficult and we just need to bare down for those games and move on from with this weekend, but not without learning the lessons that we need to learn."

NOTABLE
• TWU last played MRU in 2016 defeating MRU 3-0 in the Canada West quarter final.
• The Cougars finished the afternoon with a 15-13 edge in total shots, and a 9-3 edge in shots on goal
• Mount Royal had a 9-8 edge in corner kicks
• TWU now sits in fourth spot in the Pacific Division, while MRU sits in top spot in the Prairie Division of the Canada West conference.
• TWU now has a lifetime record of 3-1-1 against Mount Royal.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will head to the Okanagan to play the TRU WolfPack (2-2-4) on Saturday, September 28 in Kamloops, B.C., before heading to Kelowna on Sunday to face the UBC Okanagan Heat (6-3-1). The Cougars will play again Saturday, September 28th, against the MacEwan University Griffins
 
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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