After a victorious home opener, the Trinity Western Spartans could not duplicate the desired result in their road debut, splitting their opening two matches of the Canada West men’s soccer season.
The Spartans got a goal from rookie striker Vito Poletto in the 19th minute on Friday night at TWU’s Rogers Field and that stood as the winner in a 1-0 defeat of the UFV Cascades.
But the next night in Victoria saw the Spartans fall behind 3-0 before losing 3-2.
Against UFV, Poletto took a pass from Cam Parkes at the top of the Cascades box, turned, beat his defender and then ripped a shot top corner.
“It’s amazing and a perfect way to start the season,” Poletto said.
“I can’t really explain it. It happened too fast, I just hit it top corner.”
That was all the offence the team needed as goalkeeper Evan Lowther made four saves for the clean sheet.
“I think we gave away too many restarts throughout the match, but having said that, I think in the second half we were a little better in that regard,” said Spartans coach Pat Rohla.
“Overall, there is lots for improvement, but I’m ecstatic with a win at home on our first night with a brand new group of guys. There’s a lot of room for growth, but I’m proud of the boys.
“I think Mitchell Rohla did a great job defensively for us tonight and I think Brayden Gan is back to form.”
Against the Vikes, Michael Baert potted a pair 10 minutes apart and in the 50th minute, Cameron Stokes put the hosts ahed 3-0.
Matthew Roxburgh and Elijah Adekugby scored six minutes apart to pull the Spartans within a goal but that would be as close as the team came.
The Vikes had a 13-5 advantage in shots on goal with Andrew Hicks coming up with 10 saves.
“We absolutely shot ourselves in the foot today with the goals that we let in,” Rohla said. “All three goals were very preventable.”
The Spartans first goal came when Roxburgh — who had drawn the free kick — was able to bury a rebound past Vikes keeper Pawlowski into the goal. The second score was also off a free kick, this time from long range, which managed to elude the keeper.
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The Spartans, who are 1-1-0 on the season, hit the road for a pair this weekend.
On Friday they face the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in Kamloops and then battle the UBC-Okanagan Heat in Kelowna.
