REGINA – The Trinity Western Spartans stole their second victory of their inaugural 2021-22 season over Regina in a 4-2 bout on Saturday at the Co-Operators Centre.
 
The Spartans (2-6-0) were lifted by an outstanding performance from Olivia Leier (Regina). The first-year forward scored the first and second markers of her young career in Canada West.
 
Mabel Maltais (Edmonton) was in net for the Spartans, stopping 30 of 33 en route to her first credited win in Canada West.
 
Kailey Ledoux (Saskatoon) and Jordyn Matthews (Okotoks, Alta.) filled out the remainder of the goals for the Spartans on Saturday as both first-years join Leier in scoring their first career goals in Canada West.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans as Olivia Leier scored her first of two on the night. Neisha Germann (Lloydminster, Alta.) assisted on both of Leier's goals to bring her point total to four in TWU's last four matches. Jordyn Matthews chipped in with a shorthanded goal to put the Spartans up 2-0, which was soon followed by the Cougars scoring one of their own on the power play.
 
Leier added another in the second as she was accompanied by Kailey Ledoux on the score sheet before the second period's end. The Cougars also potted one of their own, but the Spartans had gained control in a 4-2 lead over Regina by the end of the period.
 
The third period of action saw the Spartans maintain control after gaining the lead in the second. Brooklyn Anderson (Shellbrook, Sask.) was stellar in the faceoff circle, keeping the Cougars hemmed into the zone with each win. Regina's Lilla Carpenter-Boesch made things interesting by narrowing TWU's margin of victory to one halfway through the period, but Mabel Maltais and the Spartans held on to close the game out.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Jean Laforest
"We're definitely in a situation where we are seeing progress. Olivia Leier had two goals, which was a breakthrough for her. She had a lot of nice chances last night, but she came home with a two-goal performance tonight. We had a shorthanded goal, so whenever we can get our special teams working it is huge. We needed a strong penalty kill and power play, so we went out and did well in both. These are all details of the game that show our trend in the right direction.
 
"We're really happy to come home. We got a little blast of winter here, but the win definitely makes things sweeter."
 
NOTABLE

• It was a special night for the first-year group of Olivia Leier, Mabel Maltais, Jordyn Matthews, and Kailey Ledoux. Maltais earned her first U SPORTS win while the forward trio all scored their first goals in Canada West.
• With this victory, the Spartans now stand at 2-6-0, winning two of their past four games.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans come home to challenge the MacEwan Griffins (3-5-0) at the Langley Events Centre for a two-game series on Nov. 26^th and 27^th.
 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.
 
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