It was seniors night last Friday in Abbotsford for the UFV Cascades men’s soccer team, but a second-year player stole the show.
Forward Daniel Davidson notched a hat trick to lead the Cascades to a 4-1 win over the TWU Spartans, and head coach Tom Lowndes said it was nice to see his player get rewarded.
“He deserves that,” Lowndes said. “Dan’s had a bit of a rough time – he hadn’t scored yet this season, and when he does, he scores three. We told him to stay positive and keep working, and it was going to happen. You see it in training – day in and day out, he scores goals.”
Davidson opened the scoring just two minutes in, and UFV’s Connor MacMillan scored in the 33rd minute to give the Cascades a 2-0 lead at the half. Davidson added two more early into the second half before TWU broke Alex Skrzeta’s shutout bid in the 73rd minute.
Senior Colton O’Neill was honoured during a pre-game ceremony to mark seniors night. The two teams met again on Tuesday, playing to a 2-2 tie. UFV had a 2-1 lead late but the Spartans scored in the 85th minute to even the game up. James Najman and Kree Byrne scored the goals for the Cascades in the draw.
The men improved to second place in the Pacific Division after the pair of results, with a record of five wins, three losses and two ties.
It wasn’t quite the same story for the women’s team, which lost 2-1 to the Spartans last Friday in Abbotsford.
The Cascades couldn’t solve TWU’s keeper until the 87th minute, when Danica Kump ended the shutout.
“It was a good game,” said Cascades head coach Rob Giesbrecht. “I thought we got punished for a few mistakes that we made. Not many chances were created by either team – it was more of a fight in midfield.
“But we kept pressing on. I’m proud of the girls for not quitting, proud of them for keeping on fighting, and we were rewarded with a late goal to make it interesting. We just kind of ran out of time.”
The teams played again on Tuesday, with the Spartans blanking the Cascades 5-0. The pair of losses drops the women’s team to fourth in the West Division, with a record of six wins, three losses and one tie.
For more information on the teams, visit ufvcascades.ca.
