KAMLOOPS – A goal in the 14th minute of play was too much for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's soccer team to overcome, as they dropped a tight 1-0 decision to the host UVic Vikes on Sept. 24.
The lone goal of the game came from the foot of Vikes defender Dari Cote. A corner kick into the box bounced out to Cote and her long-range effort found its way through a sea of legs and into the bottom corner of the net.
From there the game was a story of defence for both teams. While goalkeeper
Marissa Young would go on to make seven saves on the night, a young WolfPack back-line made sure their goal was never seriously threatened again. Unfortunately for fans of the WolfPack, it was much the same on the other end of the field. TRU fired three shots towards net and put one on target but were unable to breach a Vikes defence that has now recorded three-straight shutouts.
"I don't know if we generated enough offensively tonight but it's a work in progress with a young team," said WolfPack head coach
Mark Pennington. "I thought the back-four was solid and that we've conceded a goal where maybe there was a player offside that has blocked our goalie from seeing the ball, but those are the breaks sometimes. We'll dust ourselves off, pick ourselves up and go at it again tomorrow."
The WolfPack's best chance to equalize came in the 80th minute of play.
Camryn Curts won the ball in midfield and played a great pass through to a streaking
Makaela Gelowitz. Gelowitz played in a tantalizing ball into the six-yard box, but the UVic goalie came out and claimed the cross just ahead of both
Chantal Gammie and
Jessye Large.
These two teams will battle it out again tomorrow, with the 0-3-2 WolfPack looking to hand the 3-0-2 Vikes their first loss of the season.
"I think we have to stick to the plan," said Pennington on what his team needs to do better offensively. "We have some really specific attacking platforms that we look to play from and I don't know if we did that well enough. The plan tomorrow will really be focused on finding some rhythm in the attacking third and then it's just a bit of belief and a bit of confidence around the goal."
