For the first time in a long time — 17 matches to be exact — the Trinity Western Spartans were on the losing end of a score.
The Spartans women’s soccer lost 1-0 to the UBC Thunderbirds — the last team to beat them after a 2-0 T-Birds victory in September — in the gold medal game of the Canada West championships.
The match was played on Sunday afternoon at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium.
In between the two games, the Spartans had gone 13-0-3.
UBC scored the only goal in the sixth minute.
“I’m extremely proud of how we fought and battled in a tough game,” said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh.
“Obviously they scored early and we probably hadn’t started yet and were a little lax early on.
“Credit to UBC because they had a little bit more hunger. We had one or two chances to equalize and I was quite pleased with the way we responded in the second half but we just couldn’t find that last connection.”
The goal snapped TWU’s shutout streak at 728 minutes — more than eight full games ago.
This was the 11th time since they entered the CIS level 15 years ago, the Spartans have won a medal and they were looking for their fourth gold in the past five years.
But despite not winning the gold, they did still qualify for the CIS national championships, which run Nov. 12 to 15 back at UBC.
The Spartans are seeded fifth for the eight-team tournament and open on Thursday against No. 4 Cape Breton, the Atlantic University Sport champions.
