While his team posted an impressive victory in knocking off the previously-unbeaten and top-ranked team in the country, the Alberta Golden Bears, Trinity Western Spartans coach Mike Shearon was happy his team showed no let-down the following afternoon.
“The game on Saturday against Alberta doesn’t really mean anything if we don’t go and beat Calgary the next day,” he said.
The Spartans beat the Golden Bears 2-0 on Saturday in Edmonton and then edged the Calgary Dinos 1-0 the next day.
“Two big wins — in the end, it is about putting two performances together each and every weekend in Canada West,” he said. “If you can do that, you are starting to get things in the right place.”
The weekend marked the start of the season’s second half as TWU improved to 5-2-3 on the season, which has them in second place in the Pacific Division with six games to play.
The victory over Alberta was also a measure of redemption for the Spartans as the Golden Bears had knocked them out of last year’s playoffs.
Domenic Poletto opened the scoring in the 36th minute before Joel Waterman — playing in his first game of the season — added an insurance marker in the 79th minute.
Sebastian Colyn made six saves and followed that up with a nine-save performance the following day in yet another clean-sheet victory against Calgary. His saves also included a penalty kick stop while the game was still scoreless.
Waterman broke the stalemate in the 62nd minute, scoring for the second consecutive game.
“There was a little more adversity (in the second game) and the guys hung in there,” Shearon said. “This weekend, the guys really came together and worked hard for one another and they really solidified themselves as a team.”
The victories should help the team down the stretch drive as the regular season winds down.
“It just continues to build the team, continues to build the confidence, continues to help the guys know that each and every game they need to go out there and put the work in, and if they do, they are going to get the results,” Shearon said.
The Spartans are back on the road this weekend with games on Saturday in Kelowna against the UBC Okanagan Heat and Sunday in Kamloops versus the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
The Trinity Western women’s soccer team were also road warriors over the weekend, knocking off the UNBC Timberwolves 3-0 in Prince George on Friday and the MacEwan Griffins 1-0 in Edmonton on Sunday.
Jenaya Robertson, Rachel Hutchinson and Seina Kashima scored in the first game while Kathryn Harvey struck early in Sunday’s contest.
Christina Oliverio made a combined eight saves over the two games in posting a pair of clean sheets as the Spartans pushed their winning streak to three games.
“When we play with desire and poise and mental focus, we can be a good team,” said TWU coach Graham Roxburgh.
“We’ve shown we can battle against probably one of the better teams in Canada West.”
The two wins pulled the Spartans even with the Griffins at 4-2-0 on the season.
After back-to-back weekend on the road, TWU plays a pair of home games this weekend, hosting the UBC Okanagan Heat on Friday and the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Saturday.
Both games are at TWU’s Chase Office Field with a 5 p.m. kick-off.
