LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 5 UBC Thunderbirds were too much for the Trinity Western Spartans Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C., as the Thunderbirds defeated the Spartans 4-1 in Canada West conference play. The loss drops the Spartans to 6-15-1 in Canada West, while UBC is 20-1-3.
 
Third-year goalie Kate Fawcett (Tottenham, Ont.) made 39 saves for the Spartans, while UBC's Reese Hiddleston made 27 saves to record the win.
 
TWU's lone goal came from second-year forward Kara Yackel (St. Paul, Man.) at 2:53 of the third period. UBC had goals from Rylind MacKinnon at 4:01 of the first period, Makenzie McCallum at 19:35 of the first period, Grace Elliott on the power play at 4:59 of the second period, and an empty net goal by McCallum at 19:59 of the third period.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Peter Hay
"We showed good character by fighting till the end and giving UBC a game. It proved we can compete with the best. Hopefully, this gives us the confidence to move into next weekend which sets up to be the biggest weekend of the year as we try to take back the last and final playoff spot from Manitoba."
NOTABLE

• UBC outshot the Spartans 42-28.
• The Thunderbirds finished 1/6 on the power play, while the Spartans were 1/5.
• TWU lost 6-0 to UBC Friday night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
• The Spartans are 2-15 lifetime against the Thunderbirds.
• In their last series with UBC on October 20 and 21, the Spartans lost 7-2 and 4-1 in the home-and-home series.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head to Winnipeg, Man. to take on the Manitoba Bisons on January 26 and January 27. Game times are set for 7 p.m. (CT) and 2 p.m. (CT) and can be seen live on Canadawest.TV.

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 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-