VICTORIA – Both University of Victoria Vikes soccer programs sent a rowdy crew of fans home happy with a pair of 1-0 victories during ThunderFest Friday night at Centennial Stadium.

Following the women's 1-0 win from earlier in the evening, the men produced a duplicate result, as they blanked the University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves 1-0.

"This was an incredible crowd to play in front of tonight. We all loved seeing the support; they were going crazy all night long. Hopefully this will make them come out to more games," said Niko Cristante of the Vikes.

Both teams came out hot in the first half and exchanged glorious scoring chances.

Playing his first game of the season, Javier Sagaste dished one in for Isaac Koch, but Timberwolves' keeper Rob Goodey kicked it out of harm's way.

The Timberwolves answered by crossing one into Michael Henman in tight, but fifth-year keeper Jas Lally responded with a kick save of his own at the 18^th minute.

Jack Hill was looking for his second goal of the season but his header attempt rang off the crossbar at the 24^th minute.



At the 53^rd minute, fifth-year midfielder Niko Cristante gave the Vikes a 1-0 lead when his rocket from the top of the 18-yard box snuck by Goodey to the bottom left corner.

"It was a great shot by Niko. He's been playing well as we work new guys into our lineup. He looked good tonight," said Vikes Head Coach Bruce Wilson.

The game could have gotten out of hand in the second half if it wasn't for the brilliant work by Goodey.

In the 67^th minute, Kensho Ando committed the foul on Nick Park. Koch took the free kick, curled it around the wall, but Goodey dove to his left for the fine hand save. Koch nearly netted another in the 79^th minute after he stole the ball deep in the Timberwolves' zone, but Goodey came up big once again. Lastly, Matteo Ventura nearly lobbed in his first of the season, but Goodey came out aggressively and got the jump on the play and blocked it out of bounds.

"It could have easily been three or four nothing tonight. Their keeper played one heck of a game," said Wilson.

Lally wasn't too shabby either. He was sharp when he needed to be and made all seven saves for his third shutout of the season.

The Vikes (3-2-0) and Timberwolves (1-3-1) finish off this weekend series tomorrow evening (7:15 p.m.) at Centennial Stadium.