VICTORIA - The University of Victoria men's soccer program was a few minutes away from a perfect weekend.

That all changed in the 89th minute when a falling over Mason Ogoke for the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies buried a strike to even it up at 2-2 and took two valuable points away from the Vikes. The Vikes still picked up a valuable point in the Canada West standings in the tightly played contest Sunday afternoon, but the team left Centennial Stadium wanting more.

"Frustrating. It was frustrating," said Isaac Koch. "I don't think we played our best defensive game today and it cost us. That was a tough way to go down in the last few minutes."

If it wasn't for Jas Lally between the Pipes for the Vikes, they might have left the stadium with no points this afternoon.

The fifth-year keeper was coming off his fourth shutout of the season and was on his game once again. 

His best work came just before half when he shut down Ajani Fountaine on a mini break. Staying with the play, he held his ground and stoned Nikolas Baikas in tight. In the first 45 minutes, the Surrey, B.C. product recorded six saves.
He had to be sharp at the start of the second half, as Fountaine was bearing down on him on the right wing. Lally was in proper position and pulled off the kick save.

"This whole season, Jas has kept us in games. This one isn't on him," said Koch. "He was great today."

The Huskies found a hole in Lally earlier, though.

On a corner in the 24^th minute, Lally jumped through a crowd to punch out the corner attempt. The rebound went out to Kuhle Bekwayo, who used a seeing-eye shot to tuck one into the left corner past Lally and tie the game.

The Vikes carried an early lead after Ian Whibley finished off a great feed from Ian Whibley in the 13^th minute.

"He works super hard, he's fast as well, so when I beat someone, he's usually right there with me," said Koch.

The two connected again in the second half when Kwame Opoku-Addai misread a bouncing ball at half. Koch picked it up and raced up the field flanked by Whibley on a two-on-one. After drawing over the defender and keeper, Koch slid the ball over to Whibley for the tap in. For Koch, it was his seventh assist of the season. He entered the game leading the Canada West in assists and was tied for the lead in points with seven.

The Vikes (4-3-1) close out September with their lone trip to Alberta on Sunday, Sept. 22, when they take on the University of Calgary Dinos (4-3-0) at 2:15 p.m. Catch all the action on www.canadawest.tv, presented by CO-OP.