Makenna Ford
1
Winner Thompson Rivers TRU (4-0-3, 4-0-3)
0
Trinity Western TWU (5-3-2, 5-3-2)
Winner
Thompson Rivers TRU
(4-0-3, 4-0-3)
1
Final
0
Trinity Western TWU
(5-3-2, 5-3-2)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Thompson Rivers TRU 0 1 1
Trinity Western TWU 0 0 0

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | | TRU WolfPack

Kussimaki’s strike and more stellar defence sees TRU topple No. 10 Trinity Western

QUICK FIRE
  • Sara Kuusimaki's second goal of the season and yet another shutout from Floor Ursem, her fifth of the campaign, sent the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over the nationally No. 10 ranked TWU Spartans Saturday night.
     
DIFFERENCE MAKERS
  • Kuusimaki, in her second year with the 'Pack from Vantaa, Finland, scored her second of the season after a surging run into the Spartan's penalty area. Ursem made a pair of stops for the shutout while it was a complete team effort from the 'Pack to keep the Spartans, who scored five goals against UBCO the night prior, off the scoresheet. Kamloops local Allison Hill earned her first career Canada West point with an assist on Kuusimaki's goal.
     
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Ursem was first called into action in the 27th minute when she came up with a diving stop to deny Kylie Hendricks. Berea Woldeyes and Hill both had shots towards net blocked by Spartan's defenders as the two teams headed into the halftime break knotted up at 0-0.
  • Kat Stewart had a good effort on net in the 51st minute but it took until the 66th for the WolfPack break the deadlock.Hill set up Kuusimaki, who broke up the left side and found the far right side of the TWU net to give TRU a 1-0 lead.
  • From there the 'Pack were able to lock things down defensively, with Ursem making another stop in the 72nd minute as TRU was able to ride out the remainder of the game to clinch the victory.
NOTABLE
  • With four wins and three ties to start their season, the WolfPack continue their longest undefeated run to start a Canada West campaign in program history.
  • The win was TRU's third all-time in CW play over TWU. After starting their time in the conference 0-12-1 against the Spartans they are now 3-1 in their last four games against the Langley-based squad.
  • While TRU remains in third place in the Pacific Division they are now just two points behind the Spartans with three games in hand.
  • The WolfPack have surrendered just two goals through seven games this season.
     
QUOTABLE (WolfPack head coach Mark Pennington)
  • "It's always a difficult place to play and they are a good team. They've got some serious quality all over the field so anytime you can come here and get a result it's good and I think we were good value for the win."
  • "It was a defensive masterclass from our whole group, not just from the defenders but from the forwards all the way back. Trinity threw everything at us towards the end of the game and we were able to deal with it. They had a significant edge in corner kicks but we stood firm and threw our bodies on the line. Tactically we had a plan to have Kuusimaki mark Sophie Crowther and she did that unbelievably well and then even scored the winner so it was a really impressive performance from her."
  • ON HOW THE TEAM CAN KEEP THE UNDEFEATED STREAK GOING "We just have to keep things going. We have a difficult swing trip here, we are on the bus now and have to play in less than 24 hours against a team that will be rested. If we can keep the ball out of our net you are always in games so hopefully we can have another solid defensive game tomorrow and open up the floodgates moving forward."
  • "I couldn't be more proud of the group. The energy from the bench tonight was really good and really helped us pull through, I thought everyone put a shift in. Allison Hill covered every blade of grass alongside Berea Woldeyes, Kat Stewart and Makenna Ford in the midfield, they were really solid.

UP NEXT
  • The WolfPack will be back in action tomorrow Sunday, Oct. 4 when they take on the UFV Cascades at 5:30 p.m inside Hillside Stadium.
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