The University of the Fraser Valley men's soccer team had its chances in the second half, but were unable to dent the twine in a scoreless draw with the Victoria Vikes on Sunday afternoon.
The game shaped up much like Friday's opener, which was scoreless for the first 85 minutes before the VikesÂ
netted a late go-ahead goal in a 1-0 victory. But in the rematch, goalkeepers
Joben Mander (UFV) and Harjot Nijjar (UVic) proved unbeatable.Â
The Cascades emerge from opening weekend with an 0-1-1 record, while UVic sits 2-0-2.
"It was a much better performance today in terms of what we did with the ball," UFV head coach
Tom Lowndes analyzed. "We played a lot more, we got the ball down, our rotations were better, and we did a much better job keeping the ball – completely different from Friday night.Â
"I thought we definitely deserved something from the game Friday, and I thought we probably deserved more than a point today. But that's the nature of the beast sometimes, and if we continue to play like that, we'll win more games than we lose this year."
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A defensive-minded first half yielded few clear chances for either team, but the Cascades found a spark offensively after the break.Â
In the 59th minute,
Manpal Brar had the best look at goal of the afternoon for either team. After a Cascades corner was cleared,
Ryan Donald and
Ajai Boparai combined to keep the pressure on and feed
Anthony Vega, and he tight-roped along the end line before squaring the ball to Brar just outside the six-yard box, with Nijjar out of the play. But his point-blank attempt glanced off the leg of teammate
Sahib Sidhu and wide of the net.
Brar had another crack at goal later in the half, but his volley went just over the crossbar.
Nijjar was UVic's game MVP, and Cascades centre back
Tobias Spiess was his team's selection after leading a strong defensive effort for the hosts.
"We worked really, really hard defensively – I thought we were hard to play against, and we limited them to a lot of long balls and set piece chances," Lowndes said. "I thought we looked solid and tough to break down."
Up next for the Cascades are a pair of road games vs. local rival Trinity Western, Friday and Saturday, kicking off at 7:15 p.m. both nights.
