In a performance worthy of the captain's armband she wears,
Brittney Zacharuk carried the University of the Fraser Valley women's soccer team to a massive playoff-clinching comeback win, 4-2 over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Friday evening.
Zacharuk, the lone fifth-year player on the Cascades' roster, saw her team fall behind 2-0 in the first half on goals from TRU's Camryn Curts and Taylor Miller. It was a dire situation for the UFV side, as they nursed a one-point cushion over the WolfPack for the sixth and final Pacific Division playoff berth with just one more game after Friday remaining for each team.
But just one minute after Miller struck for the WolfPack's second goal, Zacharuk smashed home a shot from 14 yards out to get her team on the board. She subsequently set up goals by
Kate Fisher and
Katie Lampen to give the hosts a stunning 3-2 lead heading into the break. To top it all off, she notched the insurance marker in the second half.
Zacharuk's outburst gave her sole possession of the Cascades' all-time points record – she'd come into the night tied with Monika Levarsky (2014-2016) on 36 career points, and ended it on 40.
"I think Brittney showed a couple things tonight," UFV head coach
Rob Giesbrecht said. "She showed her competitiveness – being down 2-0, you heard her on the park asking more of her teammates, and when the ball came to her in the box, there was no doubt it was going into the back of the net. She scores the first for us and sets us our next two, and she shows her quality. And just her character – she shows up in big games.
"Our leader stepped forward and was the difference today. I'm really proud of her."
A nightmarish start for the Cascades was the stuff dreams are made of for the WolfPack. In the fourth minute, some physical play deep in UFV territory allowed TRU to claim possession. The ball was sent into the box where it went off the hands of Cascades keeper
Andrea Perkovic, and Curts was there to hammer the loose ball home.
The WolfPack went up 2-0 in the 25th, as Miller ran onto a picture-perfect through ball from Curts and poked it past an on-rushing Perkovic.
Zacharuk took over at that point. In the 26th, she intercepted TRU keeper Danielle Robertson's clearing attempt, took a touch and blasted a shot under the bar. In the 29th, she set up Fisher for the first goal of her Cascades career. And in the 44th, she played Lampen through on the breakaway, and the rookie fired it past Robertson for her fifth of the campaign.
Zacharuk rounded out the scoring in the 78th, catching Robertson off her line and launching a shot from 40-plus yards out that settled into the goal just beyond the TRU keeper's outstretched arms.
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"Super-slow start, but once we got that first goal, we realized we could do this," she said afterward. "We just reset our whole mindset and started playing the way we had all season. We knew we had to win tonight, and it was really awesome for the girls to buckle down and do that.
"I think having a lot of seniors (in the program) over the years and watching them have those moments, and even being in those shoes myself over the years has really just built me up for those kinds of moments. It feels really special to do that."
The Cascades wrap up the Canada West regular season Saturday (7 p.m., MRC Sports Complex) as they host the UBC Okanagan Heat, and Zacharuk will be honoured in a pregame Senior Night ceremony.Â
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