VICTORIA, B.C. – The University of Victoria Vikes men's field hockey team were dealt a 3-1 loss by the visiting Burnaby Lakers on Feb. 21 in premier play despite an outstanding performance from rookie Vikes goalkeeper
Jack Matthews. The Tsawwassen, B.C. native made several key saves against an experienced Burnaby set-piece unit.
Fourth-year defender
Connor Martin was the lone goal scorer for the home side, as the young Vikes were forced to compete without the talents of senior national team member and the squad's only fifth-year player
Brenden Bissett. The offensive talents of
Aidan Pye and
Josh Brown were also sidelined for this weekend's match.
The first half ended scoreless after a tight defensive battle. Both teams had multiple scoring chances including opportunity for rookie Chris Lee who had a breakaway early in the match. The Burnaby keeper slid out and challenged Lee to keep the game 0-0. Matthews kept the Vikes in the game with a number of key saves in the UVIC goal including defending a flurry of Burnaby penalty corners.
Both teams came out with more purpose in the second half but it was Burnaby who capitalized first. The Lakers scored on a well-executed penalty corner drag flick that screamed into the top right corner of the net, beyond Matthews and post man Alex Smith. Just 10 minutes later Burnaby turned defence into offense with a counter-attack off of a clearing down the line. The ball was worked into the Vikes' circle and slotted home short-side to put Burnaby up 2-0 just 15 minutes into the second half. Burnaby scored their third goal off of another penalty corner play five minutes later this time a hard flick to the bottom left corner.
The Vikes came to life after going down 3-0 and dominated play for the final 15 minutes. They had a hard time breaking down the Burnaby defence and were left hoping on a few occasions after missing excellent scoring chances. Finally with three minutes to go, and after a series of consecutive Vikes penalty corner chances, the Vikes got on the board. Martin smashed a rebound into the back of the net after a nifty penalty corner give-and-go at the top of the circle by brothers Amardeep and
Harbir Sidhu.
With the loss, the Vikes drop to 3-3 in their last six matches. Their next game is Feb. 28 at 12:30 p.m. against the United Brothers. The game will take place at UVic's water-based pitch.
Prior to the Vikes-Burnaby game both teams observed a minute of silence in honour of the recent passing of former Vikes men's field hockey player Graeme Carswell. The entire field hockey community was in shock and mourning following the drowning death of the 21-year-old on Feb. 14. The Tsawwassen resident and South Delta Secondary grad played for the Vikes in 2012-13 before relocating to train with the Canadian junior national team and later a career in Europe.
