Joven Sandhu made 12 saves for the UFV Cascades on Friday night in Langley, but it was a first half goal from Trinity Western's Grace Van den brink that proved to be the difference as the Spartans came out on top 1-0.

With the result the Cascades move to 0-6-5 this season, while the U SPORTS No. 4 ranked Spartans improve to 8-1-2 on the year.

Sandhu was tasked into action early in the match, as Jessica Vance found a close range opportunity in the 7th minute, but was unable to beat the Cascades Keeper.

?? WSOC | 7' Underway in Langley, and Joven Sandhu with a fantastic early save!

???@goufv 0@TWUSpartans 0#weclimbweconquer pic.twitter.com/sJXuVYtS4e
— UFV Cascades (@UFVCascades) October 8, 2022
 

Trinity Western found their breakthrough in the 14^th minute when Van den brink got on the end of a corner kick from Sophie Crowther, and she made no mistake slotting the volley into the bottom right corner.

The Cascades had a chance to draw level with a corner of their own in the 90^th minute, but the shot from Alanna Sydenham was unable to find the target.

"We are proud of our performance from a defensive standpoint to be able to withstand the attacking weight that Trinity came at us with" noted UFV head coach Niko Marcina.

"We knew it was going to be the type of match where if we were strong defensively we might be able to pull something out on the offensive end, but Trinity is a very strong team."

The Cascades now host Trinity Western in a rematch of this game on Sunday afternoon at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford (1pm kickoff, canadawest.tv).

UFV will be honouring graduating seniors Andrea Perkovic, Jashan Sandhar, and Hannah Gamble at Sunday's contest with a pregame ceremony.

"They have put in a lot of time and effort "Marcina said of his senior players. "I'm excited that they are going to be recognized and I think the players are happy for them and really value the things our seniors brought to this program."

"Our goal is to focus on the task at hand, but we also want to try to be that much better for the seniors. Hopefully we play for them for that last home match against Trinity Western."