A mad scramble in front of the net off of a corner kick turned out to be the dagger for the UFV Cascades women's soccer team.
The Cascades pulled ahead for good in the 56th minute against the UBC T-Birds on Saturday when defender Jade Palm managed to find the back of the net after a corner.
That goal proved to be the deciding factor in UFV's 2-1 win.
UFV women's soccer head coach Rob Giesbrecht said that small push from his team sealed the win.
"It's about the little things and just that little bit of desire we had on that corner kick in the second half was the difference," he said. "We had to weather the storm at times today, we bent but we didn't break."
UFV's Monika Levarsky opened the scoring in the 13th minute after a nice set-up by forward Shelby Beck but UBC replied just six minutes later to tie the game up. Giesbrecht said he liked the way his team played but they need to play with a little more consistency.
"In the first half we attacked really well and played a very assertive game," he said. "But in the second half we lost our way a little bit with the attack and the confidence we were attacking with. There were times we let them come at us a little too much today."
Saturday's win comes off a scoreless draw against the UVic Vikes on Friday, a game that Giesbrecht said the Cascades were the better team but failed to bury scoring chances. UFV earned four out of a possible six points in the first weekend of the season and next host the TRU Wolfpack on Friday and the UBCO Heat on Saturday.
The men’s soccer team also got off to a strong start on Saturday, defeating the UBCO Heat 2-0 in Kelowna. Midfielders Connor MacMillan and Kree Byrne tallied for the Cascades and keeper Alex Skrzeta picked up the shutout.
The strong start on Saturday didn’t continue on Sunday for the men’s team, as they fell 3-0 to the TRU Wolfpack in Kamloops. TRU scored twice in the first half and once in the second half to secure the win.
The men’s team returns to Abbotsford to host its home opener on Friday against UBC, and then play UVic on Saturday. Both games kick off at 7:30 p.m. at Abbotsford Senior Secondary.