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UFV Sports Saturday

Abbotsford/EdmontonMen’s BasketballDefending national champion Ravens rally to edge Cascades

The University of the Fraser Valley men’s basketball team gave the defending CIS national champions all they could handle, but the Carleton Ravens managed to claw out a 71-67 victory on Saturday afternoon.

At the Guy Vetrie Memorial Tournament at the University of Victoria, the Cascades took the Ravens – winners of 11 of the past 13 national titles – down to the wire in a back-and-forth affair that featured eight ties and 11 lead changes.

“There’s not always positives to be taken away in a loss, but Carleton’s the No. 1 team and we felt we could contend,” Cascades head coach Adam Friesen said afterward. “That means something.”

Saturday was the second day of the Vetrie exhibition tourney. UFV was coming off a hard-fought 91-82 loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday evening, while the Ravens had thumped the host UVic Vikes 80-47 in their opener.

Both teams came out at a high tempo, trading buckets early. Carleton put together a 7-0 run midway through the opening frame, highlighted by a Gavin Resch three-pointer, but the Cascades responded with a 10-0 run with six points coming from Kevon Parchment. UFV took a 19-14 lead into the second quarter.

The 2015 Canada West bronze medalists got off to a good start to the second as Vijay Dhillon dropped a long three. As five-time defending national champions do, though, Carleton unleashed a comeback. Three quick baskets, including another three from Resch, cut UFV’s lead to 23-21. The teams traded buckets with Fraser Valley staying ahead, but an and-one play from Connor Wood tied the game 27-27.

The Ravens grabbed the lead on a jumper from Kaza Kajami-Keane, but Cascades’ Parchment dangled his way into the key and secured a 30-29 lead heading into halftime.

In the third quarter the Ravens outscored the Cascades 21-16 thanks in large part to a trio of three-pointers from Wood, while UFV power forward Nate Brown countered with eight points of his own in the frame. Carleton led by as much as eight, en route to a 50-46 lead entering the fourth.

Carleton’s Cameron Smythe hit a three and a quick jumper to extend the Ravens’ lead, but UFV battled back and point guard Manny Dulay’s jumper tied the game 55-55.

With under two minutes to go, fourth-year Raven Guillaume Payen Boucard hit a three-pointer to put his team up 67-62. Dulay was able to hit again to trim the deficit to three with 49 seconds left, and the Cascades got a stop on the ensuing Ravens possession. But Dulay and Mark Johnson both missed shots on UFV’s next trip, and Wood was intentionally fouled after Carleton secured the rebound and hit two free throws. Dhillon came back down and swished a trey to get the Cascades back to within two points with two seconds left, but Wood hit two more bonus free throws to round out the scoring.

“I think we gave ourselves a chance because of our defence,” Friesen analyzed. “They’re a high-scoring team, and we were able to make life fairly tough for them, at least. Offensively, we have a ways to go, but we were able to make some runs and hit some shots. We gave ourselves a chance in the end.”

The Cascades had a great team effort as four players scored in double digits including Parchment with 18 points, Brown with 14, Dhillon with 12 and Dulay with 11.

The Ravens, who out-rebounded UFV 36-21, were led offensively by Kajami-Keane with 20 points. Wood chipped in with 16 and Boucard had 13.

On Sunday, the final day of the Vetrie tournament, the Ravens play Saskatchewan at 12 p.m. Pacific time, while the Cascades take on the host Vikes at 2 p.m. Both games will have live stats and web streaming at canadwest.tv (pay per view).

Women’s Soccer:  Griffins hand Cascades their first loss of the season

The University of the Fraser Valley women’s soccer team suffered its first loss of the Canada West regular season on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 2-1 decision to the MacEwan Griffins in Edmonton.

The CIS No. 5-ranked Cascades, the last remaining undefeated team in Canada West at 5-0-1 coming into Saturday’s action, fell behind 1-0 in the 12th minute on MacEwan striker Isabelle Dobbin’s fourth goal of the season. A UFV turnover at midfield gave the Griffins’ Meagan Lemoine a breakaway down the left flank, and she sent a cross to Dobbin whose shot found the lower left corner behind Cascades keeper Kayla Klim.

UFV bounced back in short order, though – before the 12th minute was up, Monika Levarsky won the ball and got it to Gurneet Dhaliwal, who slotted it into the bottom right corner from 20 yards out. Dhaliwal’s fourth goal of the campaign moved her into a tie with Levarsky for the team lead.

But five minutes later, another Cascade turnover led to another Griffins goal. MacEwan’s Sheena Tracey connected with Lemoine for the finish, and the Cascades were unable to find an equalizer despite several dangerous forays into Griffins territory in the second half.

“We made a few mistakes today and were punished for it,” Cascades head coach Rob Giesbrecht analyzed. “It was some uncharacteristic mistakes that did us in. They did what they had to do to get the result today, and we didn’t.”

The Cascades (5-1-1) wrap up their Alberta road trip tomorrow in Calgary vs. the Mount Royal Cougars. Kick-off is 12 p.m. Mountain time (11 a.m. Pacific).

 “I really like the character of my team, and I’m excited to see how we respond tomorrow,” Giesbrecht said. “We’ve got to own this, we’ve got to move forward, we’ve got to keep our heads up and fight hard the next game.”

Men’s Soccer: Cascades come back to tie WolfPack

The University of the Fraser Valley men’s soccer team fought back from a two-goal deficit to gain a point against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on Saturday night at Abbotsford Senior Secondary.

It was a tale of two halves as TRU came out swinging in the first half, scoring a goal early and adding another one just before the break. UFV controlled the play from minutes 45 to 90 to see the contest through to a draw.

“If you look at the weekend as a whole, one point from six is not exactly what we wanted,” noted Cascades head coach Tom Lowndes, whose side was coming off a 3-0 loss to the UBC Okanagan Heat the night before. “But when you’re 2-0 down, you’ll take anything you can get.

“I liked the way that we battled back and we fought and we scrapped and worked hard for each other, and the way we played. We didn’t just knock it long – we played some really good football tonight, so that was pleasing to see. To come back and get a tie, it’s big for us.”

The WolfPack opened the scoring in the fifth minute. TRU forward Ryan Glanville burst down the left wing, slipped past Cascade defender Sukhjit Dhaliwal and cut the ball across the front of goal, where Mike Harvey niftily tucked it inside the far post.

Glanville followed up his assist with a goal of his own in the 42nd minute. After receiving a quality through ball from Oriel Torres, he drove a shot low to the corner of net from just inside the 18. Cascades goalkeeper Alex Skrzeta ranged for the ball but was unable to get a hand on it, and the WolfPack carried a 2-0 lead into the dressing room.

The Cascades came within inches of cutting the TRU lead in half in the 51st minute. Midfielder Connor MacMillan moved swiftly to get on the end of Daniel Davidson’s corner kick and his attempt at goal was blocked, but Tammer Byrne was there to pick up the scraps. His hard strike from 20 yards came off the inside of the left post before Thompson Rivers managed to relieve the pressure.

UFV came close again in the 57th minute. After the ball was played into the box, Kree Byrne dove to get his head on the end of it. TRU keeper Travis Froehlich reacted quickly and palmed the ball off the post, negating the scoring chance.

The Cascades would break through in the 78th minute after MacMillan was hauled down in the box by a WolfPack defender. UFV captain Colton O’Neill stepped up and lifted the PK just under the crossbar to get his team on the board.

MacMillan drew UFV level just minutes later. After Byrne cut down the left side, MacMillan managed to get his toe on the cross and poke it in off the right post behind Froehlich.

Despite some frantic play in the latter stages of the game, neither team could find a game-winner and both picked up their first draws of the season.

For the game, the Cascades out-shot the WolfPack 22-10, and earned 13 corner kicks compared to just one for the visitors.

UFV now sit at 4-3-1 (W-L-T) while TRU sports a 1-4-1 record on the season.

“Even before (O’Neill) scored, I think we knew we were going to score, it was just a matter of when,” MacMillan said, alluding to the Cascades’ second-half dominance which saw them out-shoot the T-Wolves 15-4. “Just the fact that we got one in the net changed everything, and I think we knew we’d score another goal after he got that PK. And it was a good PK. I wish we got the win, but a tie’s going to have to work.

“Just the fact that we kept going . . . is a good sign. Hopefully we can carry that into the next game against Trinity.”

Next up for the Cascades is a home date versus the Trinity Western Spartans on Friday, Oct. 9 (7:30 p.m., Abbotsford Senior).

Thompson Rivers feature in an all-interior matchup when they visit the UBCO Heat next Friday.

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