LANGLEY, British Columbia – A late power play goal by No. 1 UBC was the difference in their match-up with Trinity Western Friday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.  TWU fifth-year goalie Kate Fawcett (Tottenham, Ont.) made 30 saves. But UBC's Grace Elliott was able to get one past the TWU netminder on the power play with 2:30 remaining to give the top-ranked Thunderbirds a 3-2 victory over the Spartans. The loss drops the second-place Spartans to 8-8-1-0, while the win improves the first-place Thunderbirds to 16-1-0-0.
 
Scoring for the Spartans was third-year forward Charlotte Swanton (Victoria, B.C.) with her first of the season and fifth-year forward Olivia Leier (Regina, Sask.) also with her first of the season.
 
Scoring for the Thunderbirds was Grace Elliott with two goals, her 16th and 17th goals of the season, and Hanna Perrier with her second of the season.
 
UBC's Elise Hugens made 14 saves in the Thunderbirds' win.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Thunderbirds will finish off the first semester Canada West schedule tomorrow at 3 p.m. (PT) at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, B.C. The game can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
Peter Hay, TWU Head Coach
"We came in with a game plan, and our team did a pretty good job of executing it for the most part. We played them hard and unfortunately didn't get the result we wanted. We need to keep the same game plan and see if we can get a win and a split tomorrow."

AS IT HAPPENED
The Thunderbirds had the majority of the opportunities in the fast-paced opening period. UBC outshot TWU 15-5, but the Spartans' Fawcett was able to turn away all the Thunderbird chances as the opening period ended with the two teams tied at 0-0.
 
UBC opened the scoring at 7:16 of the second period when Elliott deflected a point shot from Meadow Carman to put the Thunderbirds up 1-0. TWU's Swanson evened the game up when she deflected a point shot from rookie blueliner Sadie Isfeld (Coquitlam, B.C.) up and over UBC's Hugens to make it 1-1 at 16:07. UBC ended the period outshooting the Spartans 9-7, and the teams tied 1-1.
 
The Thunderbirds regained the lead at 10:22 of the third period when, from behind the Spartans' net, UBC's Vanessa Schaefer found Perrier in front of the TWU net. Perrier went high to beat Fawcett and put UBC up 2-1. The Spartans quickly tied it up 38 seconds later at 11:00. TWU's Leier deflected a point shot from third-year blueliner Kasey Ditner (Fort St. John, B.C.) to tie the game at 2-2. UBC's Elliott got the game-winner on the power play at 17:30. Annalisa Wong found Elliott between the circles, where she beat Fawcett to put the Thunderbirds up 3-2. TWU pulled Fawcett in the final minute but were unable to get the equalizer as the Thunderbirds defeated the Spartans 3-2.
  
NOTABLE

• The Thunderbirds outshot the Spartans 33-16.
• TWU was 0-3 on the power play, while UBC finished 1-4.
• With her 30 saves, Fawcett passes the 1900 career save mark with 1922 career saves. She currently sits in eighth place, nine saves behind Manitoba's Stacey Corfield ('10) at 1931.
• Elliot's goals give her 118 career points for UBC, breaking the record of 116 previously held by Chanreet Bassi ('25) and Tatiana Rafter ('15).
• Attendance for the afternoon match-up was 860.
• The Spartans are currently 2-26 lifetime against the UBC Thunderbirds. TWU is 0-2 against UBC this season in conference play.
• TWU's lone conference win over UBC was a 3-2 overtime win on November 10, 2022, at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.
• Last week, the Spartans were swept by the Alberta Pandas, losing 2-1 and 5-3 at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton, Alta.
• Last week, the UBC Thunderbirds swept the Saskatchewan Huskies at home in Vancouver, B.C. UBC won 4-1 and 1-0 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
• Earlier this season, the Spartans lost 3-2 and 3-1 in the home-and-home series the second week of October.

 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as in the NAIA in track and field and cross country and 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 33 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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