Box Score LANGLEY, B.C. – The Trinity Western Spartans men's soccer team concluded its Canada West regular season with a 3-0 win over the visiting Victoria Vikes on Saturday at Chase Office Field.
With the loss, the Vikes will finish as the No. 3 seed in the Pacific Division and will travel to take on the No. 2 seed from the Prairie Division on Oct. 26.
A two goal effort from Jacob Low (Port Moody, B.C.) and a clean sheet from Sebastian Colyn (Langley) was the difference, as the Spartans secured home field advantage for the Canada West quarter-finals by earning a second-place finish in the Pacific Division with a 9-6-1 record.
Jake Ruby (North Vancouver, B.C.) also chipped in with a goal for TWU. With the loss, the Vikes dropped to 8-6-1 on the season and will finish third overall in the division.
Colyn recorded six saves for his conference leading seventh clean sheet. Victoria keeper
Jas Lally made five saves in the losing effort.
It was TWU getting on the board first in the 16th minute, when Low deflected a Ruby feed in the box and past Lally to make it 1-0 TWU.
Into the second half, it was Low picking up his second of the game off a long feed from Spartans goalkeeper Colyn. The ball found its way to Low near the box, who ran it in and fired it to the bottom left corner to stretch the Spartans lead to two in the 56th minute.
TWU extended its lead to 3-0 in the 67th minute, when Spartans midfielder Tristan Torresan (North Vancouver, B.C.) had an initial shot blocked, before the rebound made its way to Ruby, who buried it for his third goal of the season.
That would be it on the scoresheet, as the Spartans maintained their lead throughout the rest of the game to hold on for the home field victory.
TWU held a 13-10 advantage in total shots, along with an 8-6 edge in shots on goal.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Mike Shearon
"Just a massive win tonight. This game was all about being great brothers to the older guys and sending them off with a victory, something we were able to do despite having to change up some things with suspensions and cards.
"We talk a lot about how we don't have bench players. Tonight, the guys that went in and started the game were awesome, and so were the guys that we brought in later in the game. They all did a great job. Because of that, we were able to get away with a big victory."
On preparation for the Canada West Quarter-Finals
"We just need to continue to get better, working on the things that we need to work on, and worrying about ourselves and taking care of tactical nuances to make sure we're good and ready to go. We've asked our group to remain focused over the long haul and we're doing that right now."
NOTABLE
• In a pregame ceremony, the Spartans honoured their graduating seniors, including Cody Fransen (Lynden, Wash.), Josiah Meppelink (Lynden), Bryce Prochnau (Edmonton) and Vagelli Boucas (Langley).
• There was a 15-minute delay in the first half due to excessive fog at Chase Office Field.
• The Spartans finished the Canada West regular season with a weekend sweep, including Friday's 4-1 win against UBC (Oct. 18).
• TWU improves an all-time record of 18-21-2 against the Vikes, winning seven of the last eight matchups against Victoria dating back to Sept. 30, 2016.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now play host to the third-placd Prairie team in the Canada West quarter-finals Saturday (Oct. 26) at Chase Office Field at 7:15 p.m. Victoria will travel to play the second-place Prairie team in the quarter-finals.
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