LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western played in their long-awaited Canada West return, drawing in a 1-1 bout against UBC Okanagan on Friday.
 
Splitting the series with UBC Okanagan with a win and a loss each in 2019, both sides picked up where they left off with the flow of the match being a balanced affair.
 
The game started with a flurry of chances from both sides, often functioning on long passes and speed, with UBC Okanagan opening the game's scoring off an own-goal by Spartans first-year defender, Mario Banovic (Burnaby, B.C.).
 
Only 12 minutes after Banovic's own-goal was conceded by the Spartans, the first-year defender found himself in the right spot, scoring the first Canada West marker of his young career on a scramble in front of UBC Okanagan's net. The tying goal was scored in the 45^th minute, giving the Spartans a massive lift heading into half-time.
 
Banovic was one of six first-years who debuted in Spartans colours. Brandon Torresan (North Vancouver, B.C.), Mikey Dale (Coquitlam, B.C.), Thomas Powell (Coquitlam, B.C.), Luca Alberti (Burnaby, B.C.), and Christian Rossi (Surrey, B.C.) featured alongside Banovic as the prominent group rookies each impacted the game in different ways.
 
The second half of the match was a complete dead-lock – with both sides surrendering few legitimate chances throughout the 45 minutes of play. It was until the 90^th minute when Tristan Torresan (North Vancouver, B.C.) drew a penalty.
 

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With the game on the line UBC Okanagan's goalkeeper, Nicholas Riersma, stretched to graze Torresan's penalty kick, bouncing it off the post and out for a corner kick.
 
The last-minute chances for the Spartans didn't end with Torresan's chance as the Spartans rung the crossbar off the corner kick. The game ended immediately after Trinity Western's final chance at winning the game.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Mike Shearon
"A disappointing night for us. The penalty, which was well taken by Tristan, was so close to putting us ahead. This is part of what happens in soccer, and I think we lost out on some points that should have been ours tonight.
 
"We put a young group on the field tonight. Jacob (Low) (Port Moody, B.C.) and Sebastian (Colyn) (Langley, B.C.) were our most experienced players on the field, but surrounding them were a bunch of guys who haven't had much more experience than some of our first years. We're going to work, figure things out, and determine what our best group is."
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will look for their first Canada West win of the season on Saturday as they lace up against UBC Okanagan again at 7:15 p.m.
 
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.

-TW-