By Amanda Hu
The soccer teams of the University of Calgary felt the heat as they admitted defeat in three of their four away games Sep. 7-9.
The men’s team faced off against the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia while the women fought Trinity Western and Fraser Valley University.
The women’s game against Trinity Western saw the Spartans outshoot the Dinos 18-9 and 11-2 on goal for their 4-0 win Sep. 7. Strong TWU defence also contributed significantly to the Dinos’ loss. Though it wasn’t enough to avoid the shutout, goaltender Courtney Hefferman was the Dinos’ bright star throughout the match, making saves that put a dent in the Spartans’ momentum. The Dinos’ soccer ladysaurs committed a repeat offence of the game the day before, as they lost 2-0 to Fraser Valley Sep. 8.
The men had slightly more success over the weekend, but not by much. In their first game against UVic, the Vikings had a strong start, ruining any chance the Dinos had to build up some energy for a win. Calgary goaltender Brian McConnell made 10 stops throughout the night while the Vikings’ Dan Kilpatrick only needed to stop two attempts to maintain their shutout.
The Dinos’ second game of the weekend against UBC started out hopeful as Brian Delaney rocked through UBC’s poorly-planned defence and scored the first goal. Ryan Holbrook also added a point to the Dinos’ score 10 minutes later, leaving the Dinos in the lead at 2-0. The second half was owned by UBC as they evened up the score despite having several subs in for key members of the team.
The game was noticeably aggressive as three yellow cards were doled out over the course of play, Calgary receiving one. Delaney also lost a tooth after a hard meet with Thunderbird Scott Barling. Calgary’s tie is surprising with shots on net being in favour of the T-birds 8-2.