VICTORIA—The visiting UBCO Heat didn't make it easy for the Vikes on October 1, but in the end the team from Victoria managed to secure a 3-1 victory.

"You have to give UBCO credit, the first 25 minutes they outplayed us for sure. It took us a little bit of time to regroup and get our game back," said Vikes head coach Tracy David.

Fifth-years Mia Gunter and Sarah Douglas scored for the Vikes with Natalie Cavallin also scoring in just her second game of the season. Maddy Laranjo scored the lone goal for the UBCO Heat.

The game was a contrast in styles. UBCO played the ball short and tried to retain possession whenever they could. The Vikes meanwhile, pressed high up the field to put pressure on the UBCO back line.

"We had to be committed to the high press because if we weren't going forward all together it wasn't working for us, and that's what you saw in the first 25 minutes of the game," said David.

Laranjo opened the scoring in the 18th minute. A pass into the box was deflected by a Vikes defender and the ball fell perfectly to Laranjo, who fired a shot past Meaghan Storie and into the Vikes net.

Gunter got the Vikes back into the game in style.

In the 37th minute she took a pass from Douglas about 25 yards away from goal and unleashed a beautiful shot that curled over Chloe Ainsworth in the Heat net and found the top right corner.

The rest of the first half was all Vikes. Although they weren't able to score a goal, they turned up the pressure on UBCO and controlled the game.

The Vikes took the lead early in the second half.

Taking inspiration from her teammate, Douglas let a shot go from well outside the 18-yard box that sailed over the head of Ainsworth.

The goal was an exclamation point on a brilliant weekend for Douglas. She recorded two goals and four assists in the two Vikes victories.

"I thought today she (Douglas) kind of took the game by the horns and turned it around a little bit in the second half," said David.

The Vikes added an insurance marker in the 70th minute.

Douglas whipped in a corner kick that Cavallin headed into the net for her first goal of the season. The goal was the third set-piece goal of the weekend for the Vikes.

"You always hope that given the opportunity, you are able to capitalize on them. In a year like we are having where we are pretty young up front we need to work on those set pieces and we need to get goals off them," said David.

The win boosted the Vikes record to 5-1-3 on the year, while UBCO fell to 2-6-0.

UBCO is back in action October 6, when they travel to Kamloops to play a rare Thursday night game against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack

The Vikes play just one game next weekend. They will travel to Vancouver to play the UBC Thunderbirds, October 8.

Both games can be seen on CanadaWest.tv

SCORING                          1     2     FINAL
Victoria (5-1-3)                   1     2      3
UBCO (2-6-0)                     1     0     1
 



GAME MVPS

UVIC: Sarah Douglas
UBCO: Emma Nelson