LANGLEY, B.C. – Playing Saint Mary's, who are the defending United States collegiate champions, the Spartans lost 113-21 Saturday at Willoughby Stadium at the Langley Events Centre. 

The visiting Gaels, who hail from Moraga, Calif., scored 17 tries and made 14 conversions in a decisive win over the Spartans in what marked the third meeting between TWU and SMC. 

TWU responded with tries from Matthew Willemse, Fynn Murphy and Lynden Duggan. Willemse, Jacob Goroza and Murphy made the conversions for TWU. 

The Spartans trailed 49-7 at the break. The Gaels then outscored TWU 64-14 over the final 40 minutes. 

TWU is 0-3 all-time against SMC. 

TWU Scoring
29 – Matthew Willemse TRY (Willemse conversion) (35-7)
49 – Fynn Murphy TRY (Jacob Goroza conversion) (56-14)
80 – Lynden Duggan TRY (Fynn Murphy conversion) (113-21)

QUOTABLE
Andrew Evans, TWU Head Coach
"We had 10 weeks to prepare for this and we let it slip away. Hopefully, this is our worst defeat ever. Saint Mary's is a very good team, but we have to take teams seriously, especially national championship-winning teams. We gave the message 10 weeks ago that if we didn't prepare properly, we were going to get pumped. We didn't prepare properly and we got pumped. They're a very good team. We have games against Central Washington, Arizona and Grand Canyon coming up, so we better prepare or we're going to get pumped."

NEXT UP
The Spartans will prepare to host Central Washington University Feb. 8 at 5 p.m. at Willoughby Stadium 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 women's and men's disc golf. 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 CIS 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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