It was a familiar weekend for the Trinity Western Spartans men’s soccer team.
One day after scoring five goals, the Spartans were blanked the very next day as they split a pair of weekend games. This also happened to the team on the opening weekend of the Canada West soccer season.
The Spartans wrapped up a three-week, six-game homestand at TWU’s Chase Office Field with a 5-1 victory Friday night over the Lethbridge Pronghorns before dropping a 1-0 decision to the Saskatchewan Huskies.
Coach Mike Shearon was not surprised by his team’s loss, which dropped their record to 3-2-3 at the midway point of the season.
“We were outplayed tonight and that was the honest truth,” he said. “They did a lot of things that we talked about, but we didn’t have an answer for it. We created some things at the end and had a number of good chances throughout the game, but we didn’t take them.”
Bryce Marinus had the game’s lone goal in the 14th minute.
TWU captain Elie Gindo nearly found the equalizer in the 87th minute but his shot skipped wide.
The Spartans fired 18 shots with seven being on target but Huskies goalkeeper Patrick Pranger was up to the task each time.
Sebastian Colyn made four saves in the loss for the Spartans.
Friday’s game saw TWU bury three first-half goals en route to the 5-1 win.
Domenic Poletto, Jacob Low and Aidan Moore put the home side up 3-1 after 45 minutes with Matthew Roxburgh and Gindo added second half goals.
“I think a lot of it is confidence and composure in the box,” Shearon said on his team’s offensive explosion.
“We had a lot of composure and we didn’t feel rushed or pressured in the box and we were able to slot a bunch home.”
Colyn made a pair of saves in the victory.
TWU is on the road this weekend with games in Edmonton against the Alberta on Saturday and the following afternoon in Calgary versus the Dinos.
Spartan women split
It was also mixed results for the Trinity Western Spartans women’s soccer team.
The Spartans fell 3-0 in Calgary to the Dinos on Saturday but recovered to blank the Lethbridge Pronghorns 2-0 the next afternoon.
Danae Derksen opened the scoring for the Langley visitors in the opening minutes of Sunday’s match before Jenaya Robertson doubled the lead.
And that was more than enough offence as Christina Oliverio made three saves to earn the clean sheet.
Against the Dinos the game before, Trinity Western fell behind 2-0 at the half.
Coach Graham Roxburgh said his team made it tough on themselves.
“Calgary did well to finish their chances, but we have to learn to cut out our mistakes,” he said. “When you’re playing at this level, teams will capitalize on your errors and we saw that this afternoon.”
The Spartans (2-2-0) are back in action on the road again this weekend with games in Prince George on Friday versus the UNBC Timberwolves and Sunday in Edmonton against the MacEwen Griffins.
