First-place on the line this weekend as Trinity Western battles UBC
It all comes down to this weekend for the Trinity Western Spartans.
The men’s soccer team plays a crucial home-and-home series with the UBC Thunderbirds to end the regular season.
While both teams have qualified for next week’s playoffs, the T-Birds (11-0-1) lead the Canada West Pacific Division with 34 points while Trinity Western (9-1-2) is five points back with 29. That means to finish in top spot, the Spartans need all six points.
The Spartans remained in the hunt for first place thanks to a pair of victories over the weekend, 1-0 over the Fraser Valley Cascades on Oct. 19 and then 2-1 over the Victoria Vikes on Oct. 20. Both games were played at TWU’s Rogers Field.
Jarvis Ambaka broke a scoreless tie in the 74rd minute against the Cascades, scoring off a scrambled corner kick.
Against the Vikes, Cameron Parkes and Ambaka scored 86 seconds apart early in the first half.
“I thought we played exceptionally well,” said Spartans coach Pat Rohla.
“We tried a different formation and the guys responded well and gave us a ‘Plan B’ knowing that we’re going into the playoffs.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get the goose egg, but overall I’m really pleased for the guys. A lot of work went into tonight; it was a good response from last night when we didn’t have our best performance. Hats off to our guys for taking the first 20 minutes by storm and really playing well.”
Victoria’s Cam Stokes scored in injury time to break Evan Lowther’s shutout bid.
The Spartans host UBC on Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. before the teams play in Vancouver on Oct. 27.
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