VICTORIA – Through 90 minutes of action the UVic Vikes men's soccer team played the perfect road game in Kelowna against the UBC Okanagan Heat on Sep. 3, but an extra time goal denied the Vikes the chance of claiming a hard-fought point in a 1-0 loss.
 
"Very, very disappointing for the players," said Vikes head coach Bruce Wilson. "They worked so hard but we missed so many chances."
 
The lone goal of the game came on the last kick of the contest. A loose ball in the Vikes eighteen-yard box pinballed around, before UBCO defender Hamish Walde was able to direct it past Maxwell Branyik-Gil in the Vikes net.
 
Battling both the 35 degree heat as well as the Heat, the Vikes had more than their fair share of chances to win the game, but just could not find the crucial final touch to guide the ball into the net.
 
"(Isaac) Koch created six chances in the game," said Wilson. "We are short a bona fide striker that can score on half chances, so we are going to have to work extremely hard every game. Overall we created enough chances to win three games today and we just could not finish."
 
Perhaps the Vikes best chance to score came in the 71st minute of play.
 
A well-worked short corner kick was played into the middle of the box and second-year Vike Evan Libke rose above everyone else to meet it, but his header clanged firmly off the crossbar and away from danger.
 
As the game wore on the Vikes looked the more likely of the two teams to claim the lead, as UBCO started to play more and more defensively.
 
"We were getting on top of them and they were resigned to a tie," said Wilson. "I give our team credit, we battled and we really wanted the three points."
 
The Vikes will now return to Victoria with a record of 0-3-1 through the first two weeks of the season.
 
Next up for the Vikes is a game against UNBC on Sept. 8 at Centennial Stadium. The contest is a part of UVic's annual Thunderfest day with the attendance last year topping 3,000 people as students crammed into the stands at Centennial.
 
SCORING                          1     2     FINAL
Victoria (0-3-1)                   0     0      1
UBCO  (1-1-0)                   0     1      2
 
MVPS
Victoria: #11 Isaac Koch
UBCO: #12 Juan Pinos