QUEBEC CITY – Trinity Western's season came to an end Sunday morning, with the Spartans falling 1-0 against UBC in a tightly-contested consolation final at the U SPORTS championships.
The Spartans allowed a goal by UBC's Danielle Steer in the 70th minute and that proved to be the difference as TWU finished the national tournament with a 1-2 record.
TWU outshot UBC 18-15, but it wasn't to be on the day for the Langley, B.C.-based side, as the Spartans were held off the scoreboard in a battle between the long-time Canada West rivals.
Spartans goalie
Hannah Miller (Langley, B.C.) made eight save in the loss, while Dakota Beckett stopped all eight shots on target she faced.
Sierra Halldorson (Winnipeg) was named the Player of the Match for the Spartans.
AS IT HAPPENED
The T-Birds carried the play for a large part of the first half, but in the second half the field tilted the Spartans way.
A 60th-minute shot from in tight by Jessa Vance (Coquitlam, B.C.) was the Spartans best chance, but her attempt was blocked on the line by a UBC defender.
In the 70th minute, an unlucky bounce of the ball landed at the feet of Steer and the Canada West Player of the Year hit it to the bottom left corner for what stood up as the game-winning goal.
A strong push by the Spartans late saw TWU come up empty offensively.
QUOTABLE
Graham Roxburgh – TWU Head Coach
"I'm obviously disappointed to lose in the fashion that we did. I was really pleased with our second half and I thought we had energy and momentum and we created enough chances to win. In the end, each team probably had an objective of playing players and giving them opportunities and I thought both teams did that, while still keeping it at a very competitive game.
"I thought Sierra was superb. I thought Charity (Field, Burnaby, B.C.) held the ball so well in the second half. Jessa and Kranny (
Olivia Kranjcec, Okotoks, Alta.) were also outstanding.
"Obviously, as we look back on the tournament, the thoughts go back to Thursday and a closely-contested quarter-final and what could have been. You need a little bit of luck and you need to be good and I thought we were on the wrong side of luck on Thursday night. The tournament could have played out so differently. In the end, I'm really proud of our young team. I'm proud that they battled through two more hard games in the midst of some adversity."
NOTABLE
• TWU was playing in their 14th U SPORTS championship tournament.
• Sunday's game marked only the second time TWU and UBC have played at the U SPORTS championship, with the T-Birds beating the Spartans in the final in 2015.
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, as well as women's and men's disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
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