Looking to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack will look for a pair of victories as they take on the UBCO Heat in a home and home series beginning Thursday night (Oct 10) in Kelowna.

The teams will face off at 7:30 pm Thursday night at Nonis Field before heading to Kamloops for a Saturday (Oct 12) afternoon tilt on the Warner Rentals field at Hillside Stadium.  That has a 2 pm kickoff.

DETAILS:

UBCO:  have a 6-5-3 record and sit in fourth place in the Canada West Pacific Division.
 TRU:  occupy the basement of the Pacific Division with a 3-5-4 record but have two games in hand over the Heat.

Thursday night will see the Heat pay tribute to their two fifth year graduating players: Hamis Walde (defender, Salt Spring Island, BC) and Jeevin Kang (midfielder, Surrey, BC).

On Saturday, the WolfPack will be honoring their lone fifth year.  Justin Donaldson (midfield, Kamloops, BC)  will be recognized at half time.
These matches are the first installments of the 2019-20 "President's Cup" series between the two schools. All head to head confrontations in Canada West soccer, basketball, volleyball and cross country are tabulated.  TRU has won the male portion of the President's Cup the last two seasons.
 
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST BETWEEN TRU AND THE TWO SIDES:

The WolfPack played UBCO to a scoreless tie when the squads met in Kelowna last year (Sept 2).  Two days previous, the Pack won 4-0 at home.
In 2017-18,  Thompson Rivers won 1-0 in Kelowna and tied 1-1 at Hillside Stadium.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

TRU:  James Fraser (4^th year, forward, Penticton, BC): has missed the last four matches with back problems. He still has a co share of the Canada West lead in goals (8) and is fifth in points with (8). was the Canada West second star of the week. Earlier this year, Fraser was the Canada West first star and second star and U SPORTS Male athlete of the week.
 Justin Donaldson:  is second in the Canada West in shots with 41. He has two goals and one assist this season. Donaldson has 14 shots on goal.
Daniel Sagno (3^rd year, forward, Winnipeg, MB) has three goals and three assists in the eight matches he has dressed for and started. He has 14 shots including eight on goal.

UBCO:  Sam McDonald (3^rd year, defender, Kelowna, BC):  leads the Heat in scoring and goals with four.  He has 17 shots-six made it to the net
Corbin Beauchemin (2^nd year, midfield, Kelowna, BC): has started all 13 matches  he has dressed for and has a team leading 27 shots (9 on goal)
Nicholas Reitsma (3^rd year, keeper, Kelowna, BC):  has started all 14 matches the Heat have played. He has a 6-53 record with five clean sheets. Reitsma stand third in the Canada West in saves (57) and fourth in goals against average (1.14).


COMMENTS OF WolfPack Coach John Antulov:

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1181978774285406213 

COMMENTS OF WolfPack Midfielder Justin Donaldson (5^th year, Kamloops, BC):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1181978719386140675 
 
COMMENTS OF WolfPack Defender Callum Etches (3^rd year, Romily,Stockport, England):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1181978824222756864 
 
Both matches can be seen on a pay-per-view basis on Canada West TV.  The WolfPack will close out the Canada West regular season(Oct 19 and 20) when they visit the University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves in Prince George, BC.