VANCOUVER, British Columbia– For the second time in two days the Trinity Western Spartans fell to the UBC Thunderbirds, with the Spartans dropping a 3-1 decision to the Thunderbirds Saturday afternoon at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver, B.C. The loss drops the Spartans to .500 at 9-9, while the win moves the No. 2 Thunderbirds to 15-2-1-0.
 
Fourth-year forward Jordyn Matthews, with her fifth goal of the season, scored the lone goal of the game for the Spartans. Scoring for the Thunderbirds were Jaylyn Morris, Kasundra Betinol, and Grace Elliott
 
Trinity Western's fourth-year goalie Kate Fawcett (Tottenham, Ont.) was solid making 33 saves in the Spartans' loss, while Kayla McDougall made 11 saves in the win for the Thunderbirds.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans are now off for the Christmas break. TWU will return to Canada West action on January 10-11 when they host the Manitoba Bisons. Friday's game will start 7 p.m. (PT) at the Langley Events Centre, with Saturday's game starting at 7:15 p.m. (PT) at the George Preston Recreation Centre. Both games can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
Trinity Western Head Coach Peter Hay
"In the first period, we had spurts of greatness and unfortunately other shifts where we got completely outplayed and gave up two goals on tough plays. We challenged them in the first intermission and the team responded and played a great 40 minutes to finish the game keeping the score down to 3-1. We are happy with the nine wins and nine losses 500 record going into Christmas and consider that a success with nine new players and lots of change. We will rest and reset and be ready for a huge second half as we fight vs Calgary for the third-place playoff spot in the West Division. We are also thankful to all our players, families, and supporters and want to wish them all a Merry Christmas.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Thunderbirds McCallum opened the scoring at 4:21 of the first period to take the early 1-0 lead. UBC added another goal at 18:43 from Betinol to give the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead at the end of the first 20 minutes of play.
 
UBC had a strong start to the second period and used their forecheck to create an opportunity for Grace Elliott to score her 12th of the season at 3:35 and put the Thunderbirds up 3-0. The Spartans Matthews got TWU within two goals when she converted a rebound off a Chloe Reid (fourth-year forward, Leduc, Alta.) shot to make it 3-1 for UBC at 12:48 of the second period.
 
The remaining 27 minutes of the game saw each team with opportunities, but the Spartans were unable to get past the Thunderbirds' stingy defensive play and McDougall to make the final a 3-1 UBC win.
 
NOTABLE 

• The Thunderbirds outshot the Spartans 36-12.
• Both teams were 0-3 on the powerplay.
• Last night the Spartans lost 3-0 to the Thunderbirds at home at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.
• TWU is currently 2-20 lifetime against UBC. The Spartans' last win against the Thunderbirds was 2-0 last season at UBC on September 15, 2023.
• Early this season the Spartans lost 4-1, and 1-0 in their two games in October.

 
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.
 
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
 
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