Thompson Rivers University Athletics

QUICK FIRE

• Macyn Jolly's first goal in the orange and black of the WolfPack was the difference Friday night as the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's soccer team defeated the visiting UNBC Timberwolves by a score of 1-0.
   

DIFFERENCE MAKERS

• Jolly, a third-year midfielder from Daegu, KOR, scored the all-important goal for the 'Pack. Goalkeeper Floor Ursem made five saves for her seventh shutout of the season in just ten games. Makenna Ford and Berea Woldeyes were pillars in the middle of the field for the 'Pack.
• Johanna Rathke made five stops for the Timberwolves while five different players had shots on goal.
   

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A first half that ended scoreless saw both teams have chances on goal. First in the 15th minute of play when a scramble at the edge of the 18-yard box resulted in Hannah Dhillon getting possession, the forward from Langley took a nice touch to gain a little space but her shot went just over the crossbar.
• UNBC's best chance came in the 23rd minute when Grace Barrett went on a winding run past a pair of 'Pack defenders but nobody in a UNBC jersey was able to get on the end of her cross into the box.
• Dhillon had another long-range effort that was stopped by Rathke but TRU's best chance to take the lead came just seconds before the halftime whistle. Kat Stewart lobbed a ball over the UNBC backline where Ford was first to it, but an on-rushing Rathke was able to cut down the angle and knock down the shot.
• Both teams best chances to score early in the second half came from set pieces. First it was the WolfPack through a long ball into the box from Alexis Virgo that Woldeyes headed towards net but Rathke was there with the stop. Next up was an absolute flurry of chances for the visitors. Aimee Glasser rose highest for a corner kick but her header rang off the post. With the ball continuing to bounce around the WolfPack penalty area, Ursem made a pair of big saves on Siciliy Ramunno and Maresha Manulak.
• The WolfPack took control of the game late and were finally rewarded in the 83rd minute of play.
• With a WolfPack corner kick sent into a dangerous area a UNBC defender was forced to pull down a TRU attacker leading to a penalty kick. Jolly stepped up to the spot with the game on the line and calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net.
• The floodgates nearly opened for TRU after that goal with a wonder-strike from Ford ringing off the crossbar and down onto the goal line but the game would end 1-0 in favour of the 'Pack.

NOTABLE

• With four matches left to play in the regular season, the result moves TRU to a record of 6-1-3 on the season where they hold second place in the Pacific Division. With 21 points from their opening 10 games, the WolfPack are four points ahead of the 5-3-2 TWU Spartans who hold third place.
• TRU's six wins ties for the most the program has recorded in a Canada West regular season with the 2022 campaign when they made it all the way to the Canada West Final Four.
   

QUOTABLE (WolfPack head coach Mark Pennington)

• "UNBC is always a tough team to play against, I feel like their position is a little bit misleading. They stretched us and it went right down to wire. It was a really close game so credit to them, they made it hard for us are we were fortunate to get the result."
• "Macyn showed some real character to step up for the penalty. The person that we had setup to take the penalty had already come off the field, so she just took it upon herself and credit to her because she slotted it away."
• "I thought Makenna Ford had a really good game, we moved her lower into the midfield today and I thought she was outstanding. Berea Woldeyes ran absolute miles all weekend. The back three were really solid with Aliyah Deneault, Alexis Virgo and Lily Pickell but we also defend from the front and it starts from the strikers all the way down so credit to the whole team for another shutout."
   

UP NEXT
The last road trip of the regular season is ahead next weekend for a WolfPack squad that will head the Lower Mainland to face the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver on Friday and the TWU Spartans on Saturday. Both those games start at 5:00 p.m. and can be watched live on canadawest.tv.