VANCOUVER – Trinity Western put together their best performance of the year against UBC, as the Spartans forced No. 9-ranked UBC to overtime before falling 4-3 Saturday at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. 

Playing a T-Birds side that finished the season second in the Canada West standings, the Spartans threw everything at UBC, with Jordan Bogress (Ladner, B.C.) sending the game to overtime with a game-tying goal at 8:11 of the third period. 

However, in overtime, UBC found the game-winner. Just after TWU netminder Berk Berkeliev (Calgary) made a breakaway save – one of 39 he made on the night – UBC's Chris Douglas scored at 2:33 of overtime, to give the T-Birds the win. 

TWU finishes the season with a record of 2-17-1, while UBC wraps up the year with a 14-5-1 record. 

TWU's Kade McMillen (Carievale, Sask.) and Brayden Brown (Calgary) also scored for TWU, while UBC's Logan Foster, Tyler Sandhu and Jonathan Smart tallied for the T-Birds. 

The game was the closest result from TWU's six contests with UBC this year and also marked the first time the Spartans have played in overtime in Canada West.  

AS IT HAPPENED

The Spartans opened the scoring for the first time this year against UBC, with McMillen earning his first goal of the season on a seeing-eye point shot at 14:53 of the first period. Michael Spafford (Saskatoon) and Jarrett Penner (Saskatoon) picked up the assists. 

UBC struck back in the second period with Foster scoring at 7:51 and Sandhu putting UBC ahead at 12:32. The Spartans, who hit a pair of crossbars in the period, tied it up with 2:47 to play when Brown potted his fifth of the season, with Hayden Guilderson (Chilliwack, B.C.) and Joshua Bruce (Surrey, B.C.) nabbing the helpers. 

UBC went ahead less than two minutes later with Smart making it 3-2 for the home team with just 56 seconds left in the frame. 

In the third period, Berkeliev made 12 save to keep TWU afloat and it was Bogress eventually scoring the tying goal to send the game beyond 60 minutes. 

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Barret Kropf 
"Even though we've had some tough times this year, I was really proud of how the guys finished well tonight. In a season marred with tons of injuries and a bunch of challenges, I thought our guys were full measure tonight for their effort. Tonight we had jump and we finished our opportunities and, going into the offseason, that's something we can build on as we build confidence and trust. Our young guys got a lot of minutes and showed that they're full value for these opportunities moving forward. I'm looking forward to seeing what we will look like as we add new pieces while sending off our graduating class with great honour and distinction for all the heavy lifting they've done over the past few years." 

NOTABLE 

• TWU closed the gap from eight days ago, when UBC won 7-2. 
• In TWU's previous five regular season games with UBC, the Spartans had scored a combined three goals. 
• After scoring just one goal in their first four outings with the T-Birds, TWU tallied five goals over its final two games with UBC. 

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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