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UFV Sports Friday

Women’s Basketball: Cascades fall to Carleton in exhibition action

A cold shooting performance sent the University of the Fraser Valley women’s basketball team to a 61-43 defeat at the hands of the Carleton Ravens on Friday at the Cougar Classic preseason tournament hosted by the University of Regina.

The Cascades held their Ottawa-based opponents to 34.5 per cent shooting from the field, but were only able to convert 25.8 per cent of their own shots, including an 0-for-18 performance from beyond the three-point arc.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well,” Cascades head coach Al Tuchscherer acknowledged. “We’re just not finding good shots within our offence yet, and I need to get them a bit better prepared for that. I’m really excited to get back in the gym with the team and work on that.”

Shayna Litman, coming off a 16-point outing against the Alberta Pandas on Thursday, led the Cascades in scoring for the second straight night, racking up 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Taylor Claggett notched eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while last season’s Canada West scoring leader Kayli Sartori was limited to six points on 1-of-14 shooting from the field.

Carleton’s Stephanie Carr counted five three-pointers among her game-high 22 points, and Nicole Gilmore snared 11 rebounds.

“I thought both Shayna and Taylor Claggett both battled hard – they had their hands full tonight,” Tuchscherer said. “Carleton has a lot of size, but they held their own.”

The Cascades wrap up their run at the Cougar Classic on Saturday vs. the Ryerson Rams (11 a.m. local time).

Women’s Soccer: Cascades edged by Spartans in top-10 clash

LANGLEY  – The University of the Fraser Valley women’s soccer team fell 3-2 on the road Friday evening to the Trinity Western Spartans in a barn-burner of a game between two of the nation’s top-10 ranked teams.

The CIS No. 2-ranked Spartans came into the contest having allowed just two goals in nine previous Canada West outings, and the No. 9-ranked Cascades – seeking a win to tie TWU atop the Pacific Division standings – matched that total on strikes from Danica Kump and Amanda Carruthers.

But it was the Spartans who ultimately prevailed, getting goals from Brooklyn Tidder, Stephanie Chin and Isabella Di Trocchio to improve to 8-0-2. UFV fell to 6-2-2, with both their losses having come against Trinity Western.

“I love our team’s fight and our determination,” Cascades head coach Rob Giesbrecht said afterward. “It’s just frustrating that we broke down a few times, and you can’t do that against good teams – you get punished. That’s something we have to learn. We need to play with a positive mentality and continue stay together on the field.”

Carruthers had a great chance early – on a scramble in the box following Tristan Corneil’s corner kick, she directed the ball on target despite having her back to the net. But a Spartans defender cleared the ball off the line.

TWU opened the scoring on a corner of their own in the 25th minute, as Tidder headed the ball home with Rachel Hutchinson picking up the assist. Kump equalized in the 43rd minute, also in the aftermath of a corner, roofing a rebound from close range.

The Spartans had some dangerous forays early in the second half, and capitalized after UFV’s Kara Delwo took down TWU’s Seina Kashima in the box. Chin stepped to the penalty spot and sent a low shot past Cascades keeper Kayla Klim.

Di Trocchio gave the hosts a two-goal lead in the 69th minute, taking a breakaway feed from Kashima and slotting a low shot into the far corner off Klim’s fingertips.

Carruthers gave the Cascades new life, firing the ball home from the middle of the box off a pass from Kump in the 72nd minute.

UFV’s best chance to level the score came in the 85th off a corner, but with the ball loose in the box, the Cascades were whistled for a foul.

Afterward, Giesbrecht praised Delwo’s “dominant ball-winning performance” in the middle of the park, and noted that Kump found ways to generate offence.

“Danica ran miles for us,” he said. “I liked that she got into dangerous areas and played assertively.

“We never quit, and I love the character of my team. We fight until the end.”

The Cascades are on the road next weekend to face the Victoria Vikes on Friday and the UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday.

Men’s Soccer: Cascades knock off No. 4-ranked Spartans on the road

The University of the Fraser Valley men’s soccer team picked up a huge victory on the road on Friday evening, defeating the CIS No. 4-ranked Trinity Western Spartans 4-1 in Langley.

The game’s turning point came late in the first half when TWU’s Elie Gindo was sent off after being shown a second yellow card – both of them assessed for fouls on Cascades forward James Najman.

The ensuing free kick led to a goal by UFV’s Justin Sekhon, and the Cascades added goals from Najman, Elijah Sampson and Nate Trampleasure against a 10-man Spartans side in the second half.

Cody Fransen scored just before the final whistle for Trinity Western (8-3-2), which sustained its first home loss and is now tied on points with the UBC Thunderbirds for first place in the Pacific Division. The victory boosted the Cascades (5-5-1) from fourth to third in the Pacific.

The two teams clash again on Sunday in the back half of the home-and-home set, with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m. at MRC Sports Complex in Abbotsford.

“The lads were immense tonight,” Cascades head coach Tom Lowndes said. “They bought into the way we wanted to attack the game. Our shape was good, and our work rate and our effort were phenomenal. To come to No. 4 in the country and be up 4-0 with 30 seconds left . . . it’s a sign of where we’ve come and the level that we can be at when we play the way we want to play.”

After a feisty first half, the match turned when Gindo was given his second yellow of the night – both picked up within four minutes of each other. Immediately thereafter, Sekhon collected the ball on a scramble in the box, turned and fired home his team-leading fourth goal of the campaign.

Najman continued to be a thorn in the Spartans’ side in the second half – Herman Gill sent a cross into the box that found the fifth-year forward and he made no mistake, converting in the 58th minute.

Sampson put UFV up 3-0 in the 82nd minute. Bronson Hartley sent Michael Mobilio in on a breakaway, and TWU keeper Andrew Hicks got his fingertips on Mobilio’s low shot labelled for the bottom right corner. But the ball continued to roll toward the goal line, and Sampson came swooping in for an easy tap-in.

Trampleasure rounded out the scoring for UFV in stoppage time, finishing off a picture-perfect cross from Brady Weir.

Keeper Alex Skrzeta finished with five saves for the Cascades, and midfielder Daniel Davidson picked up player of the game honours.

“We weathered the storm in the first half . . . and we came out in the second half with the same desire,” Lowndes analyzed. “The first 10 minutes we were under pressure and actually scored against the run of play. They had a few chances, but we scored, and from there we kept the ball well. We were disciplined, we were organized, and going forward we caused havoc at times.

“One through 18 tonight, the squad was fantastic.”

– with files from TWU Athletics

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