In a battle against two of the country’s top 10 teams, the No. 3 ranked Trinity Western Spartans managed a pair of draws.
The Spartans played to a 0-0 draw on Friday night against the No. 7 UVic Vikes and 24 hours later, had a 1-1 tie against the No. 5 UBC Thunderbirds in Canada West women’s soccer action.
Both games were at TWU’s Chase Office Field and the Spartans improved to 3-0-2.
Seina Kashima put the Spartans ahead 1-0 in the 73rd minute but five minutes later, UBC’s Shalya Corney equalized the game.
“It was a really good game between two competitive teams,” said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh.
“I’m probably a little disappointed that we went ahead and then allowed them to respond so quickly.
“UBC has some potent weapons and I thought they pushed back quickly.
“It’s too bad we didn’t absorb that for the next five minutes because I think we would have been settled at that point.”
The Thunderbirds had a 12-8 shot advantage, including nine to four on target with TWU keeper Ally Williamson coming up with eight saves.
On the UBC goal, she made the initial save but Corney pounced on the rebound.
The Spartans goal came when she took a through ball from Nicole Bolder and stepped around the charging UBC keeper, Marlee Maracle, to deposit the ball into the open goal.
Against the Vikes, the Spartans controlled possession throughout and had a 13-2 shot advantage, including 3-0 on goal, but could not beat Vikes keeper Meaghan Storie.
Roxburgh said it was disappointing the team let two points slip away.
“I can’t fault the energy level or desire of our players, but in the attacking third, our decision making was very poor,” he said.
The team hits the road this weekend for a pair of games, Saturday at Thompson Rivers and Sunday against UBCO.
