A poor first half stung the University of the Fraser Valley women's soccer team on the road, as they fell 5-1 to the Trinity Western Spartans in Langley on Friday evening.

The U SPORTS No. 2-ranked Spartans raced out to a 4-0 lead at halftime, and while the Cascades played much better after the break and clawed back a goal on a Brittney Zacharuk penalty kick, it was far too little, too late.

The Cascades (2-4-5) and Spartans (9-1-1) renew hostilities in the back half of the home-and-home series, Sunday at MRC Sports Complex (2 p.m., CanadaWest.tv).

"We made crucial mistakes in bad areas of the field, and we were punished," UFV head coach Rob Giesbrecht analyzed. "You don't do that against good teams. You've got to be sharp. If you make mistakes in the back, they end up in the back of the net."

Zacharuk's goal gives her 36 career points in Canada West regular-season play, tied for the most in UFV women's soccer program history with Monika Levarsky (2014-2016).

Jenaya Robertson scored her eighth and ninth goals of the season for the Spartans, taking the Canada West lead in that category, while Rachel Hutchinson, Brooklyn Tidder and Gabi Short also scored for the hosts.

Hutchison got the Spartans on the board first in the fifth minute, and she set up Robertson in the ninth minute to give TWU an early 2-0 lead. Tidder and Short struck later in the half to make it 4-0 at the break.

The Cascades put forth a better performance in the second half, and in the 55th minute, Katie Lampen was taken down in the box to earn a penalty kick, and Zacharuk stepped to the spot and slotted it home.

Robertson rounded out the scoring in extra time.

"The girls responded to their worst half of the season with a positive performance," Giesbrecht said afterward. "Hopefully we can build on that moving forward to Sunday."

- with files from TWU Athletics