VICTORIA – In what is becoming a recurring theme for the UVic Vikes men's soccer team some loose defending early cost them dearly in a 3-0 loss to the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Sat. 2, in Kamloops B.C.
 
"Within five minutes we are two down and that is not ideal. We started slow and it has hurt us in the end," said Vikes head coach Bruce Wilson. "I thought for most of the game we were very equal, we gave up one late and I think it was because of fatigue but TRU certainly deserved to win."
 
Mitchell Popadynetz and Thomas Lantmeeters both tallied for the WolfPack early, while Justin Donaldson added a goal ten minutes from the final whistle.
 
Jasdeep Lally made seven saves in net for the Vikes, while Wilson also praised the strong play of midfielder Austin Schneebeli in the loss.
 
"I thought Austin played very well for us," said Wilson. "We were kind of unlucky in the first half. If we would have scored that one goal in the first half it would have been 2-1 and the second half we could have made the game more of a challenge."
 
Third-year Vike Isaac Koch was again threatening on the day, recording three of the Vikes six shots on goal.
 
Battling both the WolfPack and the 35 degree heat, Wilson went to the bench early and often in an effort to keep his team rested for another important Canada West regular season game taking place tomorrow.
 
"We had five subs or six subs in today," said Wilson.  " We have no super stars on this team and we can interchange any of our players and that's what we will do tomorrow."
 
The Vikes are back in action on Sep. 3 against the UBCO Heat looking to improve upon their current record of 0-2-1.
 
That game gets underway at 3:00 p.m., in Kelowna and can be watched live on canadawest.tv