The University of the Fraser Valley men's soccer team grinded out a huge result on the road, shutting out the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 1-0 on Saturday evening.
The Cascades, coming offÂ
a 1-1 draw with the WolfPack on Friday at Hillside Stadium, need to bank points in a hurry if they hope to climb the standings in a truncated conference schedule. They got the job done on Friday behind
Manpal Brar's goal and some solid defending backed by goalkeeper
Jackson Cowx.
The UFV side exits Kamloops with four of a possible six points on the weekend, improving to 2-3-3 while dropping the first-place WolfPack to 3-2-5.
"I think we set the tempo right from minute one," Cascades head coach
Tom Lowndes said afterward. "We played some really good football in the first half, probably some of the best we've played all year. We created some chances, and it was nice to put one away.Â
"In the second half, it wasn't pretty at times, but we defended as a group. We showed how much we wanted it and how good of a team we are, and that people need to take notice. We're better than our record shows."
The Cascades had the bulk of the scoring chances in the first half, with Brar in the middle of much of it. In the 11th minute,
Trevor Zanatta sent a ball ahead to Brar with nothing but daylight in front of him, but just as he caught up to it, he met WolfPack goalkeeper Jackson Gardner who had come charging out to deflect the ball away.
In the 28th, Brar made good. Pressure by a number of Cascades, led by Zanatta, yielded a turnover deep in TRU territory, and
David Parfett pounced on it and slipped a through ball to Brar. He made no mistake this time – Gardner got a small piece of his shot, but not enough to keep it from finding the back of the net for his third goal of the year.
The WolfPack caused Cascade heart-rates to skyrocket just out of halftime – Patrick Izett tracked the ball down deep in UFV territory and sent it to James Fraser at the top of the six-yard box, but he chipped it over the crossbar.
From there, the hosts had the majority of the possession, but the Cascades largely kept them at bay.
They mustered one good look at goal themselves, as
Taylor Richardson fed
Mikael Mainella on the counterattack, but Gardner dove to his left for an outstanding save.
Cowx registered three saves for his first career clean sheet.
"I thought it was a complete team performance defensively," Lowndes enthused. "We defended from the front, our midfield was packed, and our backline was rock-solid. We defended as a unit, really dug our heels in.
"I'm really, really pleased to see the boys get rewarded tonight, and they're excited to go on the attack these last four games."
The Cascades soccer teams return home to Abbotsford to host the UNBC Timberwolves next weekend. Games run Friday (women 5:30 p.m., men 8 p.m.) and Sunday (women 1 p.m., men 3 p.m.) at Rotary Stadium.
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