Abbotsford, BC – Matheus De Souza picked up his third consecutive clean sheet, and Mateo Brazinha scored a brace, as the UFV Cascades came away with a 3-0 victory over the MacEwan University Griffins on Friday at Rotary Stadium.

The Cascades move to 3-1-1 with the win, while MacEwan continues to search for their first win of the year at 0-4-2.

How it happened:
The Cascades picked up right where they left off last week, as a dangerous free kick from Adam Szymanski found the head of Michael Beecroft and he cooly headed home his fourth goal of the season in the ninth minute.

Brazinha would double the lead for UFV in the 23rd minute, as he was dragged down by MacEwan's Lucio Rivera inside the box, and the Cascades captain made no mistake placing the ensuing penalty shot into the side netting in the left of the goal. 

UFV had a couple chances to increase the lead in the second half, but a penalty kick from Bhagvir Sidhu was parried away by MacEwan goalkeeper Oleksandr Popravka in the 63rd minute, before a Szymanski shot clipped the crossbar in the 73rd.

Just moments later, a late tackle from MacEwan's Jakob Sievert instigated a melee that resulted in both Sievert and UFV's Szymanski being sent off.

The Griffins pushed late to get back in the game, and it looked like they would find their breakthrough in the 89th minute, as a UFV handball gave Ali Yildaz a chance from the penalty spot. However, De Souza came up big for the Cascades, making the stop with an outstretched leg to keep his net empty. 

The Cascades would seal the match just one minute later, as De Souza's long ball forward fell to Brazinha who deftly slipped past the keeper before poking it into the empty goal to make it 3-0.

Notable:
The Cascades continue their streak without conceding a goal, having not conceded in their last 303 minutes and 27 seconds played. The Cascades and De Souza are now just 12 seconds away from the program's longest shutout streak in the Canada West era of 303 minutes and 39 seconds posted by goalkeeper Ethan Duggan in the 2019-20 season.

With five goals and one assist on the season, Brazinha now sits three goals back of the all-time program goals record, while he is now tied for the top spot with 11 assists, and just one point back of the program's total points record. 

Brazinha (5), Beecroft (4), and Kevin Mailand (4), all currently sit in the conference's top-five for goals this season, having each only played four of the team's five games.

Quotable:
UFV goalkeeper Matheus De Souza

"Today was a hard game. I don't think we played at the highest level we could have, but we got the job done. We had to defend a lot, especially in the second half, but my defenders got my back and I have theirs."

"I was lucky I have long legs, and I got a leg to it to save it in a really big moment, especially when we are trying to keep that clean sheet." – De Souza on his penalty save late in the game.

UFV head coach Tom Lowndes 

"Really happy with the result, the three points and another clean sheet. I think those are big positives, but if we're critical of ourselves we need to be better throughout the game. I think we mismanage moments, and we could have been better overall, but good teams find ways to win when they're not playing their best. I think that's a credit to this team."

Next Up:
The Cascades will look to continue their run of strong results on Saturday at 7pm against Mount Royal University. The game can be seen at Rotary Stadium, and live on Canada West TV.

To keep up with all the action follow the Cascades on social media at @ufvcascades