Chilliwack, BC….The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades inched closer to their first ever Canada West post season berth with a 4-1 victory over the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns tonight in UFV’s final regular season match of the year. The Cascades finish the year 6-7-1 for 19 points and sit five points ahead of the TWU Spartans at 4-6-2 for 14 points. The Spartans have two games remaining next weekend in Southern Alberta against Calgary and Lethbridge. TWU has to win both games to eliminate UFV from the Canada West post season tournament. UFV has a bye in the final regular season weekend of the campaign. The team that earns the third Pacific Division playoff spot will face the second place team from the Prairie Division at UBC the weekend of October 31-November 3 in the quarterfinals. It would be the Cascades first ever post season match since joining Canada West eight years ago.
The Cascades came out strong tonight and played like a team on the brink of earning their first ever Canada West post season berth. From the opening whistle Coach Alan Errington’s team dominated all phases of the match, controlling the midfield and attacking every opportunity they could. The Cascades would open the scoring at the sixth minute of play when captain Colton O’Neill, Abbotsford, BC sent James Najman, Surrey, BC in alone and the second year forward made no mistake in beating the Pronghorns goalkeeper Tyler Boast, Calgary, Alberta to send the happy fans into a screaming frenzy. UFV would continue to dominate the half out shooting Lethbridge 12 to 3 and Najman doubled the Cascades lead with one minute remaining in the half on a beautiful header off a scramble in front of the Lethbridge net.
The second half started the same way the first half ended with the Najman show. The Kinesiology major set up his teammate Dalibor Plavsic, Coquitlam, BC in front of the Pronghorns net and “Tally By Dali” didn’t miss as he blew a rocket of a shot past Boast to give UFV a commanding three goal lead. The Pronghorns started to mount an attack and were rewarded when Dom Point du Jour, Calgary, AB broke up Mark Village, Abbotsford, BC shutout attempt in the 71st minute. The Cascades came right back down the field and Ethan Claibourne-Collins, Chilliwack, BC buried a beautiful shot from 25 yards out to close out the scoring at 4-1. UFV out shot Lethbridge 9 to 6 in the half and for a second straight night recorded more than 20 shots on goal.
“I am very pleased with our team, they grew each and every week this season,” commented UFV head coach Alan Errington. “We now have a waiting game, we know if Trinity wins both next weekend were out, only thing we can do is prepare for the post season and wait until next Sunday to know our fate.”
Najman was UFV’s “player of the match” and Scott Slomp, Nobleford, AB was named the Pronghorns “player of the match.”
ULeth 0 1 = 1
UFV 2 2 = 4
Scoring:
First Half:
6th Minute UFV J Najman (C O’Neill)
44th Minute UFV J Najman
Second Half:
64th Minute UFV D Plavsic (J Najman)
71st Minute ULeth D Point du Jour (D Rigaux)
89th Minute E Claibourne-Collins (J Brown)
Goalkeepers:
ULeth: T Boast Saves: 8 GA: 4 (L)
UFV: M Village Saves: 3 GA: 1 (W)
Shots on Goal:
ULeth: 9 UFV: 21
Corner Kicks:
ULeth: 0 UFV: 2
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