Kelowna, BC – The UFV Cascades women's soccer team dropped their season opener 2-0 to the UBCO Heat on Friday afternoon in Kelowna. 

The Cascades struggled to get going offensively, as the hosts scored early in both halves to secure the win. The result moves UFV's record to 0-1, while UBCO moves to 2-0.

How it happened:
The Cascades found themselves under pressure early. After UFV keeper Addy Chen made a terrific stop in the 9^th minute, the Heat would find their breakthrough off a corner in the 10^th minute. After losing her marker, Nina Louis received the corner and took a left footed shot through traffic that found the bottom corner to make it 1-0. 
 

WSOC | The Cascades have kicked off for their first game of the season, and Addy Chen comes up with a big early save! pic.twitter.com/JL8zPmVBL7

— UFV Cascades (@UFVCascades) September 7, 2024

Chen came up big for the Cascades again just before the half, as Abigail Taneda broke in alone, but the second-year keeper made the diving stop to turn away the chance.
 

WSOC | Another brilliant save by Addy Chen just before the half! pic.twitter.com/gqP9LecrZD

— UFV Cascades (@UFVCascades) September 7, 2024

The Heat doubled their lead immediately after the break, as Sydney Kolodzej picked up a deflected ball and made no mistake scoring into the bottom corner.

UFV came close to cutting into the lead in the 56^th minute, as Kiana Langston got on the end of an Emerson Toop corner, but her header sailed just over the bar. 

Likewise, Eesha Mudaliar saw her volley sail just wide in the 72^nd minute after a great bit of play from Langston and Kaitlyn Colmer on the right wing to find her in the box. 

Notable:
Chen faced eight shots on the night, turning away six of them in the loss for UFV.

Quotable:
UFV head coach Ari Adams

"UBCO won all the battles in the centre of the park and we had a slow start to each half resulting in the goals, and it took us too long to figure it out."

"It was individual battles, and mistakes that are easily fixable, but our youth definitely showed tonight. We have to regroup and watch film tonight, and then come up with a game plan to be more organized and win our battles."

Next Up:
The Cascades continue their opening weekend on Saturday, as the head to Kamloops to take on the TRU WolfPack. The game is set to kick off at 7pm, and can be watched live on canadawest.tv.

To keep up with all the action follow the Cascades on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @ufvcascades