KAMLOOPS – It was a dream start to the season for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack men's soccer team, as they took down the four-time defending Canada West champion UBC Thunderbirds by a score of 2-0 inside Hillside Stadium Friday night.
 
In what was a tense affair from start to finish, a goal from Ryan Lewis and an improbable own goal from UBC sealed the victory for the host WolfPack in front of nearly 500 home fans.
 
"It was almost like it was 15 minutes spurts here and there where each team took turns taking a little more possession and a little more space," said WolfPack head coach John Antulov. "I think Ryan scoring that goal definitely gave us a little bump. For the last 15 minutes it was a little tense and tight but I loved the way we defended and battled, I thought the guys put in a really good effort."
 
UBC came out of the gates the stronger of the two teams, with Tristan Nkoghe in particular causing the WolfPack defence fits. A combination of a couple saves from WolfPack goalie Jackson Gardner and timely interceptions from defenders Josh Banton, Jan Pirretas Glasmacher and Elijah Dos Santos kept the game level heading into the half.
 
"They were fantastic all game and then when UBC really started to put pressure on us it was key to get an extra back there and then also add another person in the centre of the pitch and that solidified things," said Antulov of his defenders. "We held true, the guys really fought and battled. We knew this was going to take a full battle from everybody for 90 minutes because UBC is a top team so that's what we needed to do and we battled it out."
 
The WolfPack worked their way back into the game in the second half and after a couple near misses from Ante Grgic and Banton, Lewis was able to find the opener in the 63rd minute.
 
Marco Favaro forced a turnover deep in UBC territory and was able to chip a ball perfectly onto the head of Lewis who powered his effort off the bar and into the back of the net.
 
UBC nearly equalized just minutes later. The Thunderbirds pushed things upfield immediately after the restart and a looping effort from Nik Fussel appeared to beat Jackson Gardner, but the play was call back for offside.
 
The Thunderbirds kept up the pressure and only just failed to put the ball into Jackson Gardner's net in the 82nd minute. Thomas Gardner whipped in a corner kick that the WolfPack goalie punched away but only as far as Eric Lajeunesse who connected on a beautiful volley that rang off the post, the rebound fell back to Thomas Gardner who just hit the ball over the open net.
 
"If there's anything this team has it's fight and it's battle, that's something coach John always tries to imprint into our culture and I think we showed that today," said Jackson Gardner. "From back to front everyone was giving it all especially when we were under pressure at the back it's really good that we have guys that can play through the back and hold things down to get us that result."
 
From there the WolfPack were able to batten down the hatches with players stepping up all over the field.

In extra time TRU was able to grab an insurance marker from the must unlikely of sources. Jackson Gardner launched a kick long, there was a miscommunication between a Thunderbird defender and Axel Thulin Lennselius in the UBC net and before anybody knew what was happening the ball was in the back of the net where it will officially be ruled an own goal.
 
"I joke around with the guys at training that I'm not ending my university career without a win and the next thing you know I have a goal," said Jackson Gardner. "It's not the prettiest but at the end they all count."
 
After the game Antulov spoke about both the complete team effort as well as the outstanding performances from a number of players making their Canada West debuts as reasons for the result.
 
"Every one of those guys stepped up to the plate. It wasn't as easy as I think those guys thought it was going to be, but they all battled," said Antulov. "It was a total team effort tonight. We used 16-17 guys and everybody came in and did the job they needed to do whether it was for five, 15 or 90 minutes, the stepped up to the plate and battled and that's what you need to do against teams like this if you want to get results."
 
UBC will stay in the Interior for their next action as they travel to Kelowna to face the UBC Okanagan Heat tomorrow night at 6 p.m.
 
For the WolfPack they will have a quick turnaround to host the UVic Vikes tomorrow night inside Hillside stadium with kick off scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
"That's the thing about Canada West, every game is huge and a tough battle," said Antulov. "I said to the guys 'enjoy this for about 15 minutes but then prepare for tomorrow because that is going to be another battle."