SASKATOON – The Trinity Western women's soccer team lost for the first time in nearly two months and was forced to settle for Canada West silver after dropping a 1-0 decision against UBC in the conference final Sunday afternoon.
The Thunderbirds Shayla Chorney scored the game's lone goal in the sixth minute and UBC goalie Olivia de Goede stopped the only shot she faced to help UBC win the conference title for the first time since 2007.
Jasmin Dhanda sparked what would prove to be the game-winning play when fired a shot off of the head of a Spartan defender before the ball banked off of the crossbar. The rebound came off the bar right to Chorney, who sent a strike to the back of the net.
The Spartans pushed back and generated a few quality chances, but were unable to find the equalizer. TWU has now been shutout in all three games against UBC this year, losing 2-0 at home and playing to a 0-0 draw on the road during the regular season.
Both teams, along with Canada West bronze medal-winning Calgary, will now prepare for the CIS national championship, which will be hosted by UBC Nov. 12-15. The Spartans, who will enter the CIS championship seeded fifth, open the national tournament on Thursday, when they will take on AUS champion Cape Breton at 1:30 p.m. (PT). The game can be seen live on www.cis-sic.tv.
"I'm extremely proud of how we fought and battled in a tough game," said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh. "Obviously they scored early and we probably hadn't started yet and were a little bit lax early on. Credit to UBC because they had a little bit more hunger. We had one or two chances to equalize and I was quite pleased with the way we responded in the second half, but we just couldn't find that last connection.
"It was a scrappy game and in the end, UBC defended us well and deserved to win. But we are excited that we can extend our season and hopefully make a run at it next weekend. Individually, I thought Amy Gartke (Edmonton) was our player of the game as she was tremendous today and defended superbly."
TWU entered the game riding a 16-match unbeaten streak and hadn't lost since a 2-0 setback against the T-Birds the Spartans season-opener Sept. 11.
The Spartans, who were outshot 8-5 by the T-Birds, also saw their shutout streak snapped at 728 minutes.
After Chorney opened the scoring early, the Spartans counterattacked with pressure, but could not get a quality chance at the UBC net as the Thunderbird defenders cleared away a pair of impressive crosses.
With the score still 1-0 in the second half, the T-Birds were content to protect the lead. TWU continued to press for the tying goal, which led to a great chance for UBC to double its lead. Amelia Crawford collected the ball on the right edge of the box and sent a quick pass towards the front of the goal for Janna Speed, who neatly redirected the ball on net. Spartans keeper Ally Williamson (Langley, B.C.), who made three saves on the afternoon, dove back to her left to make the stop and keep the Spartans in the game.
Despite TWU continuing to try to create chances in the closing minutes, the T-Birds defence held strong, not allowing the Spartans to generate any threatening scoring chances down the stretch.
This is the Spartans fourth conference silver medal, having also nabbed silver in 2001, 2008 and 2013. TWU has now earned 11 Canada West medals since entering the CIS in 2001, including six conference gold medals, having won in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Game Notes: Gartke was the only player shown a yellow card, as she was cautioned in the 82nd minute…UBC was whistled for 13 fouls compared to TWU's four.
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