Cascades Men’s Soccer Playoff Firsts:
First Appearance in Canada West Post Season: 2013
First Opponent in Canada West Post Season: U of Alberta
First Result: 1-0 Victory over U of Alberta
First Cascade Post Season Goal: Colton O’Neill
First Cascade Post Season Assist: Kree Byrne
First Cascade Goalkeepers Victory: Mark Village
First Cascade Goalkeepers Shutout: Mark Village
Vancouver, BC…The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades defeated the University of Alberta Golden Bears, 1-0, in the Canada West men’s soccer quarterfinals, hosted by the UBC Thunderbirds at David Sidoo Field. Playing in their first ever post season match, UFV earned a berth in the Canada West elite “Final Four” and will face the defending CIS national Champion UBC Thunderbirds tomorrow night at 7pm, at UBC. The Cascades split the two regular season matches with UBC this fall, defeating the CIS number one ranked program, 1-0, on September 8th and falling, 3-0 two weeks later at UBC. UFV can boast of one statistic that no other Canada West program has this year, a winning record at David Sidoo Field at 2-1-0. Overall UFV’s record improves to 7-7-1 for the Canada West regular and post season.
The Cascades played a tremendous match today, they followed head coach Alan Errington’s game plan to perfection as they controlled the majority of the play, kept the ball away from the powerful Alberta offense and created numerous scoring chances throughout the match. While the contest was close and decided by a late goal, UFV did not look like they are on the conference post season stage for the first time. The team performed well and looked like the more experience side through most of the first half as they outshot Alberta 9 to 2 in the half. The duo of James Najman, Surrey, BC and Ethan Claibourne-Collins, Chilliwack, BC caused the Alberta back four havoc all afternoon. Collins had numerous shots that rung off cross bars and narrowly missed going off Alberta defenders. UFV was relentless in keeping the ball in the Golden Bears territory and away from goalkeeper Mark Village, Abbotsford, BC. Village did make one great save late in the half to preserve the scoreless tie at the break.
Knowing they would have to keep the pedal to the metal for a result, UFV continued to play flawless soccer in the second half testing Alberta’s goalkeeper, Jay Vetsch, Edmonton, Alberta often, Vetsch kept the match scoreless by making 8 saves in the match. UFV continued to put pressure on the Alberta wings and all day long veteran defender Colton O’Neill, Abbotsford, BC was beating his man down the right wing. With less than five minutes remaining Kree Byrne, Abbotsford, BC found O’Neill on of his runs and hit him with a perfect pass and the Cascades captain made no mistake in making history by scoring UFV’s first ever post season goal.
“Colton was fantastic tonight leading us to victory,” commented UFV head coach Alan Errington about his captain named the “player of the match.” “I am very proud of the entire team, it is a total team effort today.”
The Cascades kept Alberta at bay for the remaining time to clinch the post season victory. UFV will face the host Thunderbirds next on Friday night (November 1) at 7pm. The entire Canada West men’s soccer championship is being played at UBC’s David Sidoo Field.
UFV 0 1 = 1
UA 0 0 = 0
Scoring
First Half:
None
Second Half:
86th Minute UFV: C O’Neill (K Byrne)
Goalkeeper:
UFV: Mark Village GA: 0 Saves: 5 (W) Shutout (1)
UA: Jay Vetsch GA: 1 Saves: 8 (L)
Shots on Goal
UFV: 18 / UA: 7
Corner Kicks
UFV: 5 / UA: 8
Friday, November 1
UFV Cascades @ UBC Thunderbirds CW Semi-Final 7pm http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/canadawest.portal#
Photo Courtesy of UBC Sports Information Office
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