The UBC Okanagan men will be looking for their first points of the Canada West soccer season this weekend when the Heat hosts UNBC for two matches.
Both games go under the lights on Friday and Saturday at Nonis Field with kick off each night at 6 p.m.
Dante Zanatta’s squad opened the season at home over the weekend with two games but came up empty.
On Saturday afternoon at the Kelowna campus, the Fraser Valley Cascades scored a 2-0 victory over the Heat.
After Connor Macmillan scored at 22 minutes, Kree Byrnes sealed the game for UFV second into the second half after weaving through the Heat defence and beating keeper Tait Cuthill.
UBC Okanagan had some outstanding chances to cut into the Cascade lead throughout the second half, including two by Brandon McCallum, a senior defender from Yorkton, Sask. McCallum headed the ball off of a set piece, only to hit the post, then found the ball near his foot with a nearly empty net but was unable to finish.
On Sunday, Trinity Western’s Leighton Johnson scored the lone goal midway in the first half and the Spartans hung on to beat UBCO 1-0.
The Heat (0-2) did a solid job of controlling possession for most of the match, and generated 10 shots, nine of which were on target. It was the strong play of Andrew Hicks in net for TWU, who won his second straight match for the Spartans as he turned away all of the Heat attempts for his first clean sheet of the season.
Heat women…
The UBC Okanagan women lost for the first time this season, dropping a 2-1 decision to the University of Alberta Pandas Sunday in Edmonton.
Second-year Karissa McNutt and fifth-year Julia Ignacio scored for the Pandas, while rookie striker Kaylin Ferguson found the back of the net for the Heat.
On Friday night in Prince George, some late heroics by Mairi Horth earned the Heat a 1-1 draw with the UNBC Timberwolves.
With time winding down and trailing 1-0, Horth scored in the 88th minute to salvage the point for UBCO.
“There was no connection or flow to our play in the first half, turned into kick and chase,” explained head coach Claire Paterson.
Paterson was happy her team was able to score the late goal and points out the quality of play of a pair of first year players. “Bright spot is that we played much better in the second half,” she finished, “and some wonderful performances from Maddy (Madelyn Ellis) and Ally (Ferronato).”
The Heat (1-1-2) will head to Trinity Western for their next match with the 1-1 Spartans this Friday.
