Fraser Valley (Jordie Arthur) –Men’s Soccer: Cascades men’s soccer clinches playoff spot
The UFV men’s soccer team booked their ticket to the postseason on Friday, but it took a bit of outside help. The Cascades dropped a decision 3-1 to the UNBC Timberwolves, but a 7-0 result from UBC over fifth place UBCO guaranteed UFV a playoff berth.
The Cascades started early with a goal in the first minute off the boot of Charandeep Rangi. Parman Minhas danced his way out of the corner before finding Taylor Richardson who slid it on to Rangi and he blasted it into the top right corner from top of the box for his first goal of the season.
However, the Timberwolves stormed back with three straight first-half goals.
Koby Greaves finished off an assist from Abou Cisse to draw UNBC llevel in the 17th minute before goals in the 26th and 29th from Michael Henman, and Cisse gave them a lead they would not relinquish. Julian Daduica drew assists on both final Timberwolves goals.
“I thought we started the game really brightly, scoring in the first minute and then creating a couple other chances in the first 15 minutes that we probably should have put away”, noted UFV coach Tom Lowndes.
“I thought we played well. Three errors have led to goals that we need to do better with, and then it’s an uphill battle playing against a good team.”
Henman’s tally marked an incredible milestone for the UNBC striker, as he notched his 19th of the season to match the Canada West single season goalscoring record.
With the win UNBC improves their record to 8-4-3 on the year, while UFV drops to 6-6-2 and is now guaranteed to finish in the fourth and final playoff spot in the pacific division.
Both teams are back in action again on Sunday afternoon at Rotary Stadium in Abbotsford. Kickoff is at 12pm.
The Cascades will be honouring six graduating seniors on Sunday with a pregame ceremony starting at 11:30am.
“We want to go out with a strong finish for those senior players” explained Lowndes.
“They Deserve it, they’ve had fantastic careers and have been a big part of the program, so we want to make sure we finish on a high and get ready for the playoffs.”
Women’s Volleyball: Cascades fall in season opener to UBC
The UFV Cascades dropped a tightly contested four-set decision to the UBC Thunderbirds to open the 2022-2023 Canada West season on Friday night. Set scores were 25-21, 28-26, 22-25, and 27-25 in favour of the Thunderbirds.
Both teams traded blows throughout the first set, but with the score 22-21 for UBC a trio of kills from Brynn Pasin, Elise Petit, and Erika Vermette allowed them to close it out 25-21.
The Cascades jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the second set, before extending that advantage to 15-6. However, UBC would claw their way back, and although UFV held a 24-23 advantage in the late part of the set, UBC would collect six of the final eight points to snatch it 28-26.
UFV picked up their lone set win in the third, as they came back from a 21-19 deficit to pick up six of the last seven points and finish it 25-22. Setter Cailin Bitter picked up a pair of kills, and Natalie Lemoine-sells recorded an ace in that final stretch.
The fourth was once again tight, and with the score level at 24, a pair of kills from Petit and a kill from Lucy Borowski helped seal it 27-25 for the Thunderbirds.
“We played at a level that Cascades volleyball hasn’t been at yet, so I think it looks really hopeful for the future, but I think there were also some points where we made some errors that we could have controlled” remarked UFV head coach Janelle Rozema.
Lauren Attieh notched a game-high 17 kills for the Cascades, while Mo Likness set a career-high with 10 blocks, Emily Matsui matched a career-high with 26 digs, and Bitter added 32 assists.
“Cailin [Bitter] did a great job of using all of the weapons we have, and Emily [Matsui] did a great job of passing and defending and putting us in a position to make sure all of our attackers were successful tonight” Rozema noted.
Petit paced the Thunderbirds with 16 kills, while Kacey Jost picked up 20 digs, and Issy Robertson added 25 assists.
The two teams play again at 5pm on Saturday in Vancouver. Catch all the action live on canadawest.tv.
Men’s Volleyball: Cascades drop five-set thriller to open Canada West season
Vancouver, BC – Nimo Benne led the UFV Cascades with 13 kills, but it was the UBC Thunderbirds who came out on top with a five-set victory (22-25, 27-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-9) on Friday night.
The Cascades got off to a great start in the second Canada West season, grabbing a 13-10 lead in the first, and they held that advantage throughout the remainder of the set before finishing it off with a Benne kill, 25-22.
UFV got off to a quick start in the second, jumping to a 5-1 lead, but the Thunderbirds picked away at that lead to level it at 22. With the Cascades down 23-22, a Benne kill and a Ryan Adams ace, gave them a chance at set point, but UBC would fight it off and pick up four of the next five points to snag a 27-25 set win.
UBC hopped out to a 14-8 advantage in the third, and they would carry that forward to take it 25-17.
The teams traded blows in the fourth, but UFV clawed out a 22-18 lead thanks in part to a timely ace from Ryan Hampe, and they would close it out 25-22 on yet another final kill from Benne.
UBC took control in the fifth, as Matt Neaves picked up six kills, and added a service ace on the way to a 15-9 win.
“Tonight, they were a more experienced team that took care of the fine details,” UFV bench boss Nathan Bennett said of UBC.
“I thought all our players played well today, it’s just the finer details that we need to take care of.”
In addition to leading UFV in kills with 13, Benne posted a team leading nine digs in the match, while Ryan Adams claimed 11 kills, and Jonas Van Huizen added 37 assists.
Neaves paved the way for UBC on the night with game-highs in both kills (27) and aces (8). Mason Greves added 49 set assists for the Thunderbirds.
The Cascades get another crack at UBC on Saturday. The rematch is scheduled for 6:45pm in Vancouver, and you can catch all the action live over on canadawest.tv.
