LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western's Jordyn Matthews (Okotoks, Alta.) scored with 37 seconds left in the third period to send the Spartans to a season-opening 3-2 win over Calgary Friday at the Langley Events Centre. 

Just over three minutes after Brooklyn Anderson (Shellbrook, Sask.) had tied the game, Matthews banged home a feed from Anderson in front of the net to secure the win. 

TWU's Chloe Reid opened the scoring at 13:05 of the second period before the Dinos Solana Cooper and Rebecca Clark tallied a pair of third period markers to give Calgary a lead.

Kate Fawcett (Tottenham, Ont.) made 30 saves to earn the win for the Spartans, while Gabriella Durante stopped 25 of the 28 shots she faced in the Dinos net. 

The loss drops Calgary to 1-2 on the season. 

QUOTABLE
Peter Hay – Head Coach
"My first U SPORTS game was a rollercoaster, but at the end of the day when your team believes in the process and does all the little things well over the course of the game, you give yourself a chance to win. Sometimes bad things can happen, but if you keep going good things can also come out of it which it did. We just stayed to our plan. They got a couple good chances and scored obviously to get up on us in the third but we showed our character. As a coach, I'm super proud of them to come back as a group. Everyone contributed and we never gave up, which is also a sign of our conditioning that we've been working on – that we had the energy to compete right to the buzzer at the end. 

"I'm really happy for our team. They deserve this win and tomorrow we get ready for another one. I thought are forecheck was good tonight. Our game plan against this team is to be fast, to move pucks quick, to be in on our toes on the forecheck and it worked a lot. We just need to find a way to score. I thought together as a group we continuously peppered them and our forecheck was probably the big reason why we were so successful throughout this game."

AS IT HAPPENED 
Reid opened the scoring when she took a pass from Michela Naccarato (Edmonton) on a two-on-one and whipped it past the blocker of Durante. 

TWU held a one-goal lead until just past the midway point of the final frame, when Cooper evened the score with an unassisted goal. Less than two minutes later, Clarke put the Dinos up 2-1, with Josie McLeod delivering the assist. 

With the Spartans trailing by a goal, Anderson converted a two-on-one pass from Olivia Leier (Regina) to tie the game and set the stage for Matthews game-winning goal. 

NOTABLE
•    The Spartans entered the 2023-24 Canada West season ranked 7th in the Canada West preseason coaches' poll, while Calgary was ranked 5th. 
•    The Spartans are now 2-4 lifetime against the Dinos.
•    TWU's lone win against Calgary came on Nov. 11, 2022, when the Spartans handed the Dinos a 5-1 loss in Calgary.
•    In their second meeting last season the Dinos defeated the Spartans 3-1 at home in Langley, BC.

UP NEXT
The Spartans and Dinos play in the rematch Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre. 

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 and 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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