VICTORIA – No. 5-ranked Trinity Western put together a strong performance, but it wasn't quite enough against No. 2 University of Victoria, as the Spartans dropped a 32-17 decision Saturday at Wallace Field. 
 
TWU rookies Liam Olafsen (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Kyle Finan (Red Deer, Alta.) scored their first tries as Spartans, while Lynden Duggan (Edinburgh, Scotland) also dotted down to account for 15 of the Spartans 17 points on the day. Guiseppe du Toit (Maple Ridge, B.C.) also got in on the point-scoring, adding a converstion on Olafsen's try.
 
After falling behind by 19 points in the first half, the Spartans pushed back in impressive fashion, as they outscored the Vikes 17-13 over the final 45 minutes of play. 
 
After a 31-point loss to the Vikes just two weeks ago at home, the Spartans closed the gap on Victoria in a significant way in what was their second of two Coastal Cup clashes this fall. 
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Vikes scored the first 19 points of the game, before Duggan broke through by scoring a try in the 34th minute to put the Spartans on the board. TWU took a quick ball off a penalty and passed it through the backs from 10 metres out before finding Duggan on the wing. 
 
Victoria put eight more points on the board in the second half before the Spartans found the try zone in the 68th minute when Olafsen broke through, sneaking the ball out of a ruck and running in untouched from 20 metres out. Du Toit kicked the conversion. 
 
After UVIC took a 32-12 lead, the Spartans rounded out the scoring in 78th minute when Finan dove over the line after a series of strong phases from the TWU forward unit.
 
QUOTABLE
Andrew Evans – Director of Rugby
"Today was an improved performance against UVIC. We started off a little bit slow and gave them a lot of possession and it felt like we were defending for most of the first half. At halftime, we had a message to play the way we've trained and we were able to string together some good passages of play and ended up scoring tries with some good energy from a couple of rookies. Lynden Duggan had an outstanding game. He had a tremendous fend on a player and had a lot of go-forward. 
 
"Our scrums were great today. We started off the day by earning a scrum penalty on UVIC's put-in so that was encouraging and overall our set piece was much improved. We're going to now continue to focus on refining our attack and making sure we have more possession. Overall, it was an encouraging performance against a really good UVIC team."
 
NOTABLE
·       Victoria took the season series 2-0 after also beating the Spartans at home earlier in the year.
·       The Spartans men's rugby team currently sits at 0-4 in Coastal Cup play.
 
UP NEXT
TWU returns home to play No. 1-ranked UBC Oct. 7 at 2:30 p.m. at Willoughby Community Park.
 
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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