Heat women’s soccer score two in the first half and cruise to a victory in Kamloops, (2-0) over TRU. Play the ‘Pack again in Kelowna on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Thursday, October 6th, 2016
Hillside Stadium, Kamloops, BC
SCORING 1 2 FINAL UBC Okanagan (3-6-0) 2 0 2 Thompson Rivers (1-8-0) 0 0 0
KAMLOOPS, BC — After a tough battle on Hillside Stadium in Kamloops, the UBC Okanagan women’s soccer team come out with a (2-0) win against the WolfPack this Thursday night.
With their first win in four weeks the Heat’s record improves to (3-6-0) totaling nine points which extends the UBCO lead on sixth place in the Pacific division to six points, or two wins better then seventh place. The loss drops Thompson Rivers record to (1-8-0) in the Pacific.
Scoring for the Heat in the first of the two game series was second year Ally Ferronato and third year forward Cassie Bratton.
This is the second win for the Heat on the road this season as the Kelowna squad was able to take advantage of a nervous WolfPack and used their speed to get a number of scoring opportunities in the first half as well as scoring twice.
Heat head coach Craig Smith was pleased with the team and the way they fought in tonight’s first head to head in the two schools President’s Cup competition. “It wasn’t one of our best games but the girls dug deep at the end. We are happy to come away with the three points.”
The Heat pressing the WolfPack early came out quick to score with Ferronato scoring directly off of a corner kick in the eighth minute of play. It was the first goal of the season for the sophomore midfielder from Calgary and the second goal in her career.
With the competition high the Heat and ‘Pack were able to go head to head in the rest of the first half until a turn over at the 44th minute led Bratton to a steal and an open scoring opportunity for the Heat to widen the game to (2-0). Bratton, also from Calgary now has two goals on the season and is second on the team tied with rookie Maya Bandy and just one behind Courtney Hemmerling.
As both teams were eager to claim the win, the Heat were able to control the ball for the majority of the second half and had scoring opportunities from Brittany Wheeler, Kailyn Ferguson, Courtney Hemmerling, and Violet Bacon, but all were turned aside by starting TRU keeper Alyssa Smith, who made five saves in 72 minutes in goal. She was relieved by Deanna Brady who made two saves in the final 18 minutes.
Chloe Ainsworth started for UBCO in net and recorded three saves for her second shutout of the season.
Although there were no goals in the second half of the game, the Heat were able to finish with an impressive 20 shots, nine of which were on net compared to the ‘Pack’s seven shots.
With the first match of the weekend finished, the Heat will continue their split weekend against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack this Saturday (Oct. 8) at the Nonis Sports Field in Kelowna with a start time of 1 p.m.
~ Tia Sadler, UBC Okanagan Heat, with notes from Larry Read, TRU Communications
