KAMLOOPS – For the second game in a row, allowing a flurry of goals in quick succession proved to be the undoing of a Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's soccer team that fell to the Trinity Western Spartans by a score of 3-1 inside Hillside Stadium on Friday night.
 
"We tied the second half last night 1-1, and tied the second half tonight 0-0, against the No. 1 ranked team in the country and those are the things we have to build from," said WolfPack head coach Mark Pennington.
 
Canada West leading goal-scorer Anna Dunn tallied twice for her seventh and eighth goals of the season, with Gabriella Low also scoring for the visiting Spartans.
 
Makaela Gelowitz scored the first Canada West of her WolfPack career for TRU. The 'Pack's two goals this weekend were equal to the amount the Spartans had conceded in their opening six contests.
 
All four goals came in the first half of play.
 
Some early Trinity Western pressure was rewarded in the 24th minute when Dunn took the ball in midfield and worked around the WolfPack defence en route to scoring her first of the match.
 
The WolfPack were full value for their equalizer just minutes later. The 'Pack rebounded well after conceding and after a couple of chances a hard-working Gelowitz earned the first goal of her WolfPack career. The first year from Langley charged hard after a bouncing ball in the Spartans box and beat two defenders as well as the goalie to poke it into the net.
 
It didn't take long for the Spartans to regain the lead however.
 
Dunn scored her second of the half in the 27th minute of play when she finished off a well-worked Spartan passing play with a rocket of a shot into the back of the net.
 
Trinity Western added an insurance marker just five minutes before the halftime whistle when Low was able to bundle the ball into the back of the net from a goalmouth scramble.
 
The second half was an extremely positive one for the 'Pack. The young squad went toe-to-toe with the Spartans, out-shooting the perennial powerhouses by a tally of 3-1 but were unable to find the back of the net as the game ended 3-1.
 
"Happy with our second half performance, we got some significant minutes in for players that have been chomping at the bit to take part," said Pennington. "Daniella Falsetta gave us some good minutes for her first ever U SPORTS action after some nasty long-term injuries so happy to get her involved and Georgia Aldus got 90 minutes under her belt for the first time this year, so definitely some good things."
 
The win keeps the Spartans perfect on the season with a record of 8-0-0. Next up for the Langley-based squad is a pair of home games against the UVic Vikes.
 
The WolfPack will also stay home where they will prepare to welcome the Fraser Valley Cascades for a pair of games on October 8-9.
 
"It's about finding those little victories," said Pennington on what his team can take from the weekend. "Disappointingly we've conceded again from a set piece which we are not happy about, but if we can compete with the No. 1 ranked team in the country toe-to-toe then as long as we can match that same kind of fight and intensity it bodes well for the rest of our season."