Box Score

SECOND HALF GOAL LIFTS SPARTANS TO WIN

LANGLEY, British Columbia - The Trinity Western men's soccer team
capitalized on a Mount Royal own goal in the 75th minute as it earned a
well-deserved 1-0 victory over the Cougars Friday at Rogers Field.

Andy Phillips (Lake Errock, B.C.) swung in a right side corner kick and,
with the ball curling towards the woodwork, it was MRU goalie David
Thelheimer deflecting into his own net for what proved to be the lone goal
of the match.

Despite numerous chances on both sides - the total shots favoured TWU
19-12 - neither the Spartans (2-6-1) nor the Cougars (3-6-1) were able to
produce anything more in terms of offence and the own goal stood up as the
winner.

The win snapped the Spartans seven-game winless slide and sees them move
to within six points of Fraser Valley, who holds down the third and final
playoff position in the Pacific Division.

Meanwhile, the Cougars remain four points behind Alberta, who sit in third
place in the Prairie Division.

Spartans goalie Andrew Hicks (Surrey, B.C.) made four saves for his first
win of the season and his second clean sheet, while MRU'S Thelhemier made
three stops in the loss.

"I think we're really breathing a sigh of relief tonight," said Spartans
coach Pat Rohla. "We really needed to get this one and while it was earned
on an own goal, we're happy with the win. We probably squandered six good
chances, at least, and so I don't think the score was entirely indicative
of the game.

"I thought we had some really solid games from players like Brayden Gant
(Maple Ridge, B.C.) and Jarvis Ambaka (Maragoli, Kenya) and Nico
Verseveldt (Burnaby, B.C.), who has really been a pleasant surprise,
played well again tonight."


An energetic first half resulted in nothing on the scoreboard but it
wasn't for a lack of opportunities.



The Cougars had a pair of chances in the first 15 minutes from Brad Crewe
and Cody Cook, but both missed close calls wide left.



Not long after, it was TWU unable to capitalize. Both Gant in the 19th
minute, and Sam Delfs (Edmonton), in the 24th minute, had chances from
atop the box, but neither was able to find the target.



Perhaps the Spartans best chance of the half came in the 37th minute when
Jerome Lou (Surrey, B.C.) got his head to a brilliant cross off the left
wing but just scraped his attempt off the crossbar.



In the second half, the teams continued to trade chances, but it wasn't
until the 75th minute when TWU broke the deadlock.



With a corner kick opportunity from the right corner, Phillips curled the
ball towards the target and Thelheimer mishandled his clearing attempt,
swatting the ball to the back of the net.


The game had a peculiar moment in the 32nd minute when, following a
Cougars foul, MRU's Ryan Clancey, who was on the bench at the time, was
shown a red card for indecent language. Clancey was forced to leave the
game but the Cougars didn't lose a player from the pitch.

The Spartans are back on the field Saturday when they host Winnipeg at 7
p.m. The game can be seen at
twu.canadawest.tvhttp://client.stretchinternet.com/client/twu.portal>.
MRU will travel to Vancouver to take on No. 1 UBC at 7 p.m.

Game Notes: TWU's Fourth-year Denny Serifovic (Richmond, B.C.) saw the
pitch for the first time since Sept. 13 against UBC as he, coming off an
injury, played 20 minutes of second half action...the Cougars Gustavo
Becerra and the Spartans Gant and Ambaka were each shown yellow
cards...TWU had a 6-0 edge in corner kicks...both teams had four shots on
target.