Time is winding down on the Canada West men's soccer league regular season and for the second straight year, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack are hoping to put together a late surge as they look to secure as third straight post season berth.

The WolfPack are set to head to the coast to meet the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Friday (Oct 4) and the University of Victoria Vikes on Saturday (Oct 5).
These are the second matches of the season between the Pack and these two schools. They opened up the regular season on the Warner Rentals Field at Hillside Stadium in late August/early September.

DETAILS:

UBC:  Are the only Canada West squad in the U SPORTS top 10 rankings sitting in fifth spot for a second straight week. They lead the Pacific Dicision with a 6-1-2 record

 UVIC:  at 5-3-1, they are third in the Pacific Division in terms of winning percentage.

TRU:  sit in fifth spot in the Pacific Division after beating Fraser Valley last Sunday (Sept 29) 3-2.  They are 3-3-4.


WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST BETWEEN TRU AND THE TWO SIDES:

In the league and season opener for the Pack, they drew with UBC 1-1 on August 31^st. The WolfPack had to rally from a 1-0 deficit as Riley Pang (4^th year,forward, Richmond, BC)  went left corner on Pack keeper Jackson Gardner (2^nd year, Chilliwack, BC).   Thomas Gardner (2^nd year, midfield, North Vancouver, BC) , the Canada West and U SPORTS rookie of the year drew the assist.  That goal came in the 9th minute.

TRU evened things up in the 35^th minute as Dylan Hooper (2^nd year, midfield, Winnipeg, MB)  got the ball on the right side and drove down field. He chipped the ball to the left side of the net where James Fraser (4h year, forward, Penticton, BC) broke free and blasted it into the left side of the net.

Both Gardner and UBC keeper Jason Roberts (5^th year, Richmond, BC) made 4 saves.  Roberts had two in the first and  two in the second half.  Gardner made only one save in the first and had three in the second half.

UBC dominated in corner kicks with nine (five in the first half) to TRU's four (all in the first half)  They also had 16 shots on goal (10 in the second half) to TRU's nine.

The following day (Sept 1),  Thompson Rivers blanked Victoria 5-0.  James Fraser (4^th year, forward, Penticton, BC) had a hat trick.  The WolfPack opened the scoring at the 25^th minute mark when former Vike Justin Donaldson (5^th year, midfield, Kamloops, BC), took on three Victoria defenders and moved from left to mid field where he slid it over to Hooper who beat Vikes keeper Harjot Nijjar (2^nd year, Surrey, BC)

In the 43^rd minute, Fraser was hauled down in the box and was awarded a penalty shot and went left side of the net.  TRU led 2-0 at the half as they outshot Victoria 9-7.
The second half was totally dominated by the home side.   Fraser notched his second goal in the 70 th minute as Jan Pirrates (3^rd year, midfield, Barcelona, Spain) sent him a though ball and he cashed in going to the lower left of the cage.

In the 84^th minute, Josh Banton (3^rd  year, defender, Lee-on-Sea, England) rushed down field and found open space. His shot was saved by Nijjar but Fraser was there to flick the rebound in for his fourth goal of the young season. 
  
TRU added one more in stoppage time as  Zahk Barone (2^nd year, midfield, Kamloops BC) made a nice cutback and found Jordano Pinto (1^st year, midfield, Vancouver, BC) who went low for his first Canada West goal
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Gardner faced eight shots to earn the shutout.   He made two saves in the match compared to Nijjar's seven.Thompson Rivers outshot Victoria 20-8 (11-1 in the second half) and had five corner kicks to the Vikes three. 
 
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH:

TRU:  James Fraser:  was the Canada West male athlete of the month for September.  He was named a Canada West first and second star of the week in that month. He leads the Canada West with eight goals and is tied for fourth in overall point with eight.
Justin Donaldson  is second in Canada West in shots with 32

UBC:  Jason Roberts is tied for second in Canada West with eight goals against and second in the league in goals against average (0.89)
Jordan Haynes (2^nd year, defence, Selwyn ON): is tied for third in Canada West in assists (4)
Victory Shumbusho (3^rd year, forward, Chilliwack, BC): leads the T-Birds in scoring with four goals.

UVIC:   Jas Lilly: is fourth in Canada West in goals against average  (1.13), third in goals against (9) and fifth in saves (38).
Isaac Koch (4^th year midfield, West Kelowna, BC):  leads the Canada West in assists (8) and points (11)
Ian Whibley (3^rd year, forward, Coombs, BC) : is third in the league in goal scoring (6) and fourth in points (8)

COMMENTS OF WolfPack Coach John Antulov:
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1179586121086332935 
 
 

COMMENTS OF WolfPack keeper Olivier Jumbeau (1^st year, Lancashire, England):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1179586293056987137
 
 
 
Both matches can be seen on a pay-per-view basis on Canada West TV.

The WolfPack close out the regular season with a home and home affair with their closest geographical rivals: the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat. The teams will play in Kelowna on Thursday (Oct 10 th) before finishing things up on the Warner Rentals field at Hillside Stadium on Saturday, October 12^th.  On that day, the WolfPack will be honoring their lone fifth year player: Justin Donaldson (midfield, Kamloops, BC)  at half time. 

These matches will also be the first two installments of the 2019-20 "President's Cup" series between UBCO and Thompson Rivers.  It involves head to head meetings in all Canada West sports: volleyball, basketball, cross country and soccer.

The WolfPack close out their 2019 Canada West regular season on October 19-20 th in Prince George, BC against the UNBC Timberwolves.
The above soccer matches can be watched on a pay-per-view basis on www.CanadaWesttv.com presented by Co-OP.