The UFV Cascades men’s soccer team has advanced to the Canada West’s final four.
Goalkeeper David Hicks provided the heroics in a dramatic shootout victory on Saturday in Saskatoon, as the Cascades earned a 2-1 win in penalty kicks over the Saskatchewan Huskies.
The two teams played to a scoreless stalemate after 90 minutes, meaning two 15-minutes halves of extra time would be up next.
Cascades striker Andrew Peat put his team up 1-0 at the 95 minutes, but the Huskies tied the game up at the 120 minutes mark to send the game to penalty kicks.
Hicks went on to stop three of four Huskies penalty kick attempts, with Anthony Vega, Parman Minhas and Tammer Byrne all tallied for UFV to secure the 3-1 shootout win.
Still buzzing over last night’s epic MSOC playoff win at Sask!
— UFV Cascades (@UFVCascades) October 28, 2018
🎥 The PK shootout in its entirety is below.... spoiler alert, Cascades keeper David Hicks is a BEAST!
Full recap, ICYMI ➡️ https://t.co/PW8qcM25ZV#WeClimbWeConquer pic.twitter.com/isD6lSPSZg
Men’s team head coach Tom Lowndes was thrilled with the composure his team displayed on the road.
“I don’t know, over the past couple weeks, how much more my heart can take,” he stated afterward. “But the boys were awesome tonight. They were immense. They were heroic in every sense of the word. We came to a very tough place to play, and they found a way to win. It would have been very easy for us to hang our heads after conceding a late, late, late equalizer, but they didn’t. We got some great saves from David Hicks, and we got the job done.”
The Cascades now advance to Friday’s Canada West semi-final to battle the host UBC Thunderbirds. That game kicks off at 7 p.m.
The clubs met twice this season, playing to a 1-1 tie in Abbotsford on Aug. 31 and then the Thunderbirds picking up a 2-0 win in Vancouver on Oct. 12. UBC finished with the top record in the Pacific conference at 13-1-2.
It’s the third trip to the final four for the Cascades men’s soccer program, with previous trips in 2013 and 2015 netting conference bronze medals.
Meanwhile, it was a weekend of ups and downs for the Cascades women’s soccer team.
The club took down the Mount Royal Cougars in Langley on Thursday in dramatic fashion to advance to Canada West quarter-finals.
The two teams were tied 1-1 after 90 minutes, with UFV’s Sarah Parker opening the scoring in the 40th minute, but the Cougars replied in the 75th.
The two 15-minutes periods of extra time didn’t solve anything, and in the penalty kicks stage UFV’s Joven Sandhu came up clutch in goal. She stopped the first two MRU shooters and the Cascades won the shootout 3-2. Harneet Dadrao, Vanita Bhullar and Mackenzie Silbernagel all scored for UFV in the penalty kicks.
That win advanced the club to Saturday’s quarter-final to take on the TWU Spartans.
The women pushed the top-ranked women’s soccer team in the country to overtime, but eventually allowed a goal in the 107th minute in the second extra time frame to fall 1-0 and end the team’s season.
“It’s not the time of year for moral victories, so we’re gutted to have our season end tonight,” UFV head coach Rob Giesbrecht said.”It’s a scary game when you’re fending off that team, because they’re pretty loaded. But I’m so proud of my team and their progress.”
For more on both teams, visit gocascades.ca.