VANCOUVER, B.C. – It took 120 minutes of soccer and a penalty shoot-out but the University of Fraser Valley Cascades booked their place in Sunday's semi-final with a dramatic victory over Calgary Dinos at Thunderbird Stadium on Friday evening.
 
Calgary dominated the shot count but Fraser Valley put in a resolute defensive shift to keep them at bay. Cascades keeper Jackson Cowx produced a penalty save in the second half to keep his side in it, and Hany Shafie saved an extra time penalty for the Dinos to send the match to a shootout.
 
Fraser Valley went a perfect five from five, while Cowx stopped the second shot he faced in the shootout, sparking jubilant scenes as they kept their season alive and ended Calgary's in the process.
 
"We obviously had to be better than we were at their place earlier in the season," UFV head coach Tom Lowndes said after the match. "Tonight, we defended so well against a team that's got so many attacking threats and so many quality players. We bought into putting a shift in and we rode our luck at times, let's not kid ourselves.
 
"We had to defend and we got a little bit lucky, but I can't speak highly enough of the guys. They've bounced back from last season. We were picked to finish 11th in the polls at the start of the year and that was added motivation. Now we've got a big task ahead of us of rest, recovery, and we'll go again on Sunday."
 
Both teams came out strong in the first half, creating chances but unable to break the deadlock.
 
Calgary had the first chance of the game, with Cowx parrying away a shot from the lively Kimia Kassanda.
 
UFV responded with a dangerous cross from Kevin Mailand to the back post, but with no takers.
 
Gianmarco Plenzik had a couple of looks on goal for the Dinos before Cowx denied Owen Antoniuk with a near post save in the 35th minute.
 
Antoniuk flashed a shot wide at the start of the second half, but clear cut chances were proving hard to come by. Those that were coming were from the Dinos.
 
Soliman Aria fired over from a good position on the hour mark, before a James Greco-Taylor free kick didn't miss by much.
 
Calgary wasted the best chance to go ahead when Adam Szymanski brought down Plenzik in the box at the midway point of the second half. The midfielder picked himself up to take the spot kick, but it was superbly saved by Cowx.
 
"It was time to show up," Cowx answered post-game when asked what went through his mind leading to the shot. "It was time to help my team out, and get us out of a sticky situation, and I guessed right."
 

MSOC | 66' Jackson Cowx with the penalty save to keep the game scoreless! pic.twitter.com/syBV2kjHnl

— UFV Cascades (@UFVCascades) October 26, 2024

Cowx then produced a double save in the 79th minute to deny the Dinos once again, the second of which was an unsighted one from Antoniuk.
 
The teams couldn't be separated through the first 90 minutes, as the game went into extra time. 
 
UFV came out the stronger at the start of the first half of extra time, winning a penalty nine minutes in when Aria was adjudged to have handled in the box. Mateo Brazinha stepped up but Shafie produced a stunning acrobatic save to keep the game scoreless.
 
The match headed to penalties. Antoniuk took Calgary's second and Cowx made a terrific diving save to put the Cascades ahead.  Szymanski, Kevin Mailand, Bhagvir Sidhu, and Brazinha all converted from the spot for UFV to set the scene for Anthony Vega to step up. The senior midfielder drilled home the winning spot kick, and the Cascades secured the dramatic victory.
 

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UFV will now play UBC in the Canada West semi-final at Thunderbird Stadium on Sunday afternoon at 1 pm PT for a place in both next weekend's Canada West final and at this year's U SPORTS nationals.