LANGLEY, British Columbia – Trinity Western third-year goalie Mabel Maltais (Edmonton, Alta.) made 26 saves to back-stop the Spartans to a 5-0 shutout victory over the Regina Cougars Saturday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win improves the Spartans to 8-18-1, while the loss drops the Cougars to 6-18-2.
 
Regina's Natalie Williamson made 41 saves for the Cougars in the loss.
 
Scoring with Spartans were second-year forward Michaela Naccarato (Edmonton, Alta.), with two goals, second-year forward Kara Yackel (St. Paul, Man.), with two goals, and third-year forward Kyra McDonald (Inuik, N.T.).
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans got things going early with Naccarato's second goal of the year at 3:02. TWU fifth-year forward Katherine Chadwick (Kanata, Ont.) took the shot from the slot low to Williamason's right. Williamson made the save, but Naccarato was there to jump on the rebound and find the back of the net to put TWU up 1-0. The Spartans ended the period with a 14-9 edge in shots on goal in a physical first period with the Spartans leading 1-0.
 
At the 4:13 mark of the second period, after a scramble in front of the Regina net, it looked like a shot from McDonald crossed the Regina goal line, but the official waved off the goal. At 9:32 third-year forward Brooklyn Anderson (Shellbrook, Sask,) went up the left wing and made a beautiful move past the Regina defence to find an open Yackel on the far post, where she easily found the back of the net to put the Spartans up 2-0. At 17:55 the Spartans went up 3-0. TWU's Anderson got open in the middle of the ice and took a low hard shot from the point. Regina's Williamson could not contain the rebound, and Yackel again found the back of the net with her second of the game.
 
At 4:51 of the third period McDonald got her goal when she went up left-wing, moved in on the Regina net, and beat Williamson to put TWU up 4-0. Naccarato got her second of the night and finished off the scoring for the Spartans at 15:43 of the final period. On a fine individual effort, Naccarato went up the right side, beat the Cougars' defence to go in on the Regina net where she put the Spartans up 5-0.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Peter Hay
"We found our goal scoring. We had great efforts from everyone and played well. Some highlight real goals.  Great shutout from Mabel. For the weekend we scored seven and had zero against. That's a successful weekend that we need to find a way to repeat next weekend in Alberta to end the season on the right foot. This was a great way to celebrate our senior's who both got an assist on the first goal which fired up the team. I am really happy for the team to finally get the results they have deserved so many times this season. It was fun!"
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans outshot the Cougars 46-26.
• TWU finished 0-5 on the power play, while Regina finished 0-4 on the power play.
• With two games remaining the Spartans are in seventh place and will not qualify for postseason play.
• Yesterday afternoon the Spartans beat the Cougars 2-0.
• The Spartans are 7-1 lifetime against the Cougars.
• In their last series with Regina on October 13 and 14, the Spartans defeated the Cougars 2-1, and 5-2 on the road in Regina, Sask.
• TWU's last loss to Regina, 2-1, was November 19, 2021, in Regina, Sask.
• The Spartans are currently on a seven-game winning streak against the Cougars.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will conclude the season next week in Edmonton, Alta against the Alberta Pandas on February 9-10. Game times are set for 7 p.m. (MT) and 2 p.m. (MT) 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.
 
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