Fraser Valley (Dan Kinvig) – Women’s Soccer: Nekic, Cascades clinch playoff berth, beat Heat 1-0The University of the Fraser Valley women’s soccer team ran its win streak to five games and locked up a playoff berth on Friday afternoon, topping the UBC Okanagan Heat 1-0 in Kelowna.
The Heat came in hot in their own right, riding a two-game win streak after sweeping the Victoria Vikes at home the previous weekend.
The Cascades, though, owned the majority of possession, registered nine shots on goal to the Heat’s one, and racked up 12 corner kicks. They made good on that pressure in the 68th minute, as Taylor Nekic rose to head home Harneet Dadrao’s corner, and goalkeeper Joven Sandhu closed out her fourth clean sheet of the campaign.
UFV (5-4-2) advances to the Canada West post-season for the ninth straight season, and can finish as high as third in the West Division, but where they end up depends on the outcome of this weekend’s UVic-UBC matches. The Vikes came into the weekend on 14 points, tied with UFV for third place, and their game Friday was still ongoing as the Cascades came off the pitch in Kelowna.
UBCO (2-6-3), meanwhile, is eliminated from playoff contention based on Friday’s result.
The Cascades and Heat teams wrap up the weekend set on Saturday (4 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op).
“I have to give a lot of credit and respect to (UBCO head coach) Craig Smith and how he’s running his team,” Cascades head coach Niko Marcina said afterward. “They’re very tough to break down, and they did a good job of maintaining possession. The first 15 minutes, we were very challenged by how they were moving the ball.
“The second half was about grit, perseverance, and wanting to get those three points and wanting to get a goal. As a result of that grit, we were able to get it done. You just had a feeling it was going to go in the back of the net, and sure enough, Taylor Nekic connected on a beautiful corner.”
The Cascades gained traction as the first half wore on, earning a series of corners in rapid-fire fashion – four in a span of two minutes, from the 18th through the 20th. Yet they were unable to connect, and later on, a pair of dangerous-looking forays from open play involving Hannah Gamble and Halle McCambley also came up empty. McCambley shot wide off a set-up from Gamble in the 23rd, and in the 42nd, Gamble’s shot from the top of the box was saved by UBCO keeper Molly Race.
The UFV side broke through midway through the second half, as Nekic stepped forward to meet Dadrao’s corner and steer it into the bottom left corner.
At the other end of the pitch, Sandhu was outstanding, coming off her line aggressively to defuse a series of dangerous-looking through balls from the Heat.
“I have to give Joven a lot of credit,” said Marcina, “she was a catalyst to us getting the result today.”
Marcina also had plaudits for the attacking trio of Gamble, Dadrao and Jashan Sandhar, who created a great deal of havoc in the attacking third. Dadrao and Sandhar were elusive with the ball at their feet, and Gamble ran miles as she pressured the Heat’s defenders.
Men’s Soccer: Choi’s goal, Cowx’s saves strengthen Cascades’ playoff bid
The University of the Fraser Valley men’s soccer team kept its playoff hopes alive in heart-stopping fashion, edging the UBC Okanagan Heat 1-0 under relentless rainfall on Friday evening in Kelowna.
The intensity of the match was off the charts, as both teams came into the final weekend series of the regular season knowing that two wins would clinch them a playoff spot, while eliminating the other.
But in the end, it was the Cascades benefitting from a fortuitous bounce, as Jun Won Choi’s second goal of the season, in the 38th minute, gave them the lead. Goalkeeper Jackson Cowx and the UFV defence made that goal stand up, repelling the Heat’s offensive forays throughout the second half.
With the win, the Cascades improve to 3-3-5 for 14 points – tied on points with the Thompson Rivers WolfPack (who have one game in hand) for the fourth and final West Division playoff slot, and just one point back of the Trinity Western Spartans and UBC Thunderbirds.
A victory in Saturday’s regular-season finale at UBCO (6:30 p.m., CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op) would be enough to lift UFV past TWU (which has already completed its regular-season schedule) and secure a playoff berth. A draw would also open possibilities for the Cascades in the playoff race, but they’d be depending on UBC to lose Saturday at UVic, or for TRU to take no more than one point in its Saturday-Sunday series at UNBC.
UBC Okanagan (2-5-4) was eliminated from the playoff chase with Friday’s loss to the Cascades.
“We’ve broken it down into two Cup finals,” UFV head coach Tom Lowndes said, detailing his team’s approach to the weekend at UBCO. “We’ve won one of the Cup finals, but we’ve done nothing yet. We’ve got to come back at it with the same effort tomorrow. We’ve put this in the back of our mind already.”
The Heat came out firing on Friday – in the early going, Malachi Emerson snuck behind the UFV defence and Aidan Tuck threaded a pass to him, but Cowx came charging out to cut down the angle and made the save.
In the 24th minute, Cowx came up huge again. UBCO’s Jimmy Steel sent in a corner kick and Josh Bhandal got his head on it, but the UFV keeper made a reflexive save to tip the ball off the crossbar, and Nikhil Reddy managed to clear the ball out of harm’s way.
The Cascades broke through in the 38th minute. David Parfett’s corner came up short and was cleared away by the Heat, but Charandeep Rangi ran the ball down and lofted a high-arcing cross into the box. UBCO keeper Nicholas Reitsma and defender Sam McDonald converged on it, and McDonald rose to head it as Reitsma collided with him. The ball arced backward, clearing the Heat defensive corps, the all that was left for Choi was to run onto it and poke it into the wide-open net.
In the second half, the rain revved up while the fog rolled in, and the UFV side – in Lowndes’s words – “defended heroically”.
“It wasn’t a pretty game – it was direct from both teams, and it came down to heart and desire,” he said. “They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the last 15 minutes, and we weathered the storm and stuck together. Our backline was outstanding, our midfield as well, and we pressed them well up front. Just a complete team effort defensively.
“Jackson kept us in it – he’s made a save on a one-on-one in the first five minutes, and then he’s made probably the save of the season, tipping it off the bar. He’s managed the game really well in the second half, too.”
Women’s Volleyball: Cascades sweep past Griffins in preseason action
The University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball team earned a three-set victory over the MacEwan Griffins on Friday evening to open a preseason tournament in Calgary.
The Cascades had faced the Griffins one week ago at a similar event in Kamloops, B.C., and needed five sets to dispatch the Edmonton squad. Thus, Friday’s result – tidier as it was, with set scores of 25-13, 25-20 and 26-24 – represented progress for UFV as they build toward their Canada West regular-season debut (Nov. 5-6 at UBC Okanagan).
“I definitely think we learned how to close out a match,” Cascades head coach Janelle Rozema said afterward. “All volleyball teams have to go through that learning process. That’s a big step forward for us, and it shows our ability to control matches.
“We identified that a team is going to start playing better against us as they start getting to know us more. It becomes harder to score points, but we really dug deep and started earning those hard points.”
Pleasing for Rozema was the fact that every Cascades player saw the floor on Friday. Of note, rookie Sydney Wright, normally a right side, lined up at a new position at middle and contributed to the victory.
“It was a true team effort,” Rozema noted.
The Cascades are back in action on Saturday, facing the host Calgary Dinos at 7 p.m. Mountain time.
Men’s Volleyball: Cascades push Thunderbirds to the limit in exhibition action – The University of the Fraser Valley men’s volleyball team alternated moments of uncertainty with moments of confidence on Friday evening, ultimately dropping a five-set exhibition decision to the UBC Thunderbirds at the UFV Athletic Centre.
The Cascades were tentative early, as the T-Birds claimed the first two sets by scores of 25-18 and 25-20. But they were able to grind out a 26-24 decision in the third and took the fourth 25-19 against their perennial powerhouse opponent, before struggling in the fifth set and falling 15-5.
In action earlier in the day at the Cascades’ preseason tournament, the Brandon Bobcats topped the MacEwan Griffins, also in five sets (25-17, 21-25, 25-15, 23-25, 15-10).
The event wraps up on Saturday at the UFV Athletic Centre, with Brandon facing UBC at 6 p.m. and the host Cascades clashing with the Griffins at 8 p.m.
“I think tonight was a story of Jekyll and Hyde,” UFV head coach Nathan Bennett said afterward, analyzing his team’s ups and downs.
“I think we were nervous to play the UBC Thunderbirds for the first time, and it showed in the first and second set. We got a little bit more comfortable in the third and gutted out a set win, which was great, and it kind of relieved some of the self-made pressure from our own guys. They played a little bit more free in the fourth and were able to play really well.
“We were able to push it to the fifth, and I think right now, our program needs to learn how to win. We were a bit nervous when it came to the fifth, because we were that much closer to a victory. That part there, it’s going to take some experience to beat a good team.”
Caleb Kastelein had a big game for the Cascades, hammering down a game-high 12 kills and hitting .304. Nimo Benne added 10 kills, Noah Bouius had four kills and two blocks, and Jonas Van Huizen notched 26 set assists to go with two service aces.
Coltyn Liu, Zarley Zalusky and Michael Dowhaniuk paced the T-Birds offensively with 10 kills apiece, and Cole Brandsma chipped in with nine.
“For us, it was a great journey for us to go on, and we learned a lot,” Bennett summarized. “We’re looking forward to taking what we learned tonight into tomorrow, wrapping up this tournament and putting this in our pocket for when the regular season starts.”
