Jessica King provided some late-game heroics in back-to-back games as the Trinity Western Spartans earned four out of a possible six points to open the Canada West women’s soccer season.
King scored in the dying seconds on Friday night at Rogers Field on the TWU campus to send the 700-plus fans into a frenzy as the Spartans defeated the UFV Cascades 2-1.
Jenna Di Nunzio broke free down the left wing and sent a perfectly-placed cross to the foot of King, and the striker made no mistake, slotting it home through a pair of defenders and past Cascades keeper Kayla Kim.
“I was just trying to get into the box and I knew we only had a couple of minutes left,” King said.
“I saw Jenna get it and heard Graham say ‘go at them’, so I just waited for her to cross it and I managed to get a touch on it.”
And the next night, Kings goal in the 82nd minute helped TWU earn a 1-1 draw with the UVic Vikes in Victoria.
King’s heroics would not have been possible without goalkeeper Christine Oliverio against the Vikes, finishing with three saves.
“She bailed the rest of the team out so instead of us trailing 3-0 at the half, we were only down 1-0,” said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh.
“And we were unlucky not for it to have been 1-1 after shot(s) off both posts.
“We had moments in the first half where we were just holding on for dear life, partly because UVic played more intelligently and were the more aggressive team while we struggled to get going and we struggled to find any type of competitive spirit.”
That changed in the second half after the Spartans began to show better ball movement.
Roxburgh said Nat Arnett came off the bench to give the team some life and Seina Kashima returned to the game and was a difference maker, who had the Vikes back line under pressure.
UVic went ahead in the fifth minute when Cassie Dennis’ long-range blast got past Oliverio. The Vikes dominated the half, but only led by a goal.
The Spartans notched the equalizer in the 82nd minute as Krista Gommeringer faked that she was taking the pass from Danae Derksen, instead letting the low cross continue through to King, whose low shot beat Vikes keeper Meaghan Storie.
Against the Cascades, TWU fell behind 1-0 in the 28th minute as Karalyn Delwo opened the scoring. And it looked like that goal may stand as the winner before Alessandra Oliverio equalized from the penalty spot in the 84th minute, setting up the frenetic final 10 minutes capped by King’s winner.
Christine Oliverio made four saves for the Spartans while Klim stopped eight of the 10 TWU shots on goal.
“We were probably a little fortunate to get away with a point,” Roxburgh said following the Victoria game.
“So we have some work to do, but four points off of our first weekend after sub-par performances — we will take it.”
Up next for TWU (1-0-1) is a pair of road games this weekend, Friday in Kamloops against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack and the next day in Kelowna against the UBC-Okanagan Heat.
