For the first time this season, the UFV Cascades women’s soccer team tasted defeat but the club bounced back big the next day.
The women traveled to Edmonton to take on the MacEwan Griffins on Saturday and lost 2-1.
The Griffins opened the scoring at the 12-minute mark but moments later rookie Gurneet Dhaliwal tied the game up. MacEwan replied five minutes later and despite some offensive bursts from the Cascades, that goal proved to be enough for the win.
UFV headed south to Calgary and Mount Royal University on Sunday and exploded offensively with a 4-1 win.
The Cascades held a 1-0 lead at the half, with Dhaliwal scoring her team-high fifth on the year to open the scoring, and then the floodgates opened in the second half. Shelby Beck, Brittany Zacharuk and Danica Kump added goals in the second half. MRU scored in the 64th minute to ruin keeper Kayla Klim’s shutout bid.
“Overall I’m proud that our girls responded well from (Saturday’s) loss,” Cascades head coach Rob Giesbrecht said. “As well, I liked our strength of character shown by battling through the frustration of not finishing our chances (early in the game).”
UFV is in second place in the Canada West Western division and sports a record of six wins, one loss and one tie. The women next host Trinity Western on Friday and then play the Spartans in Langley on Saturday.
The men’s team struggled over the weekend at home, losing 3-0 to the UBC-O Heat on Friday and playing to a 2-2 tie with the TRU Wolfpack on Saturday.
UFV trailed 2-0 after the first half on Saturday but battled back with goals from Colton O'Neill and Connor MacMillan in the second half to draw even.
Cascades head coach Tom Lowndes said he wasn’t happy with the weekend overall but liked the effort against TRU.
“If you look at the weekend as a whole, one point from six is not exactly what we wanted,” he said. “I liked the way that we battled back and we fought. To come back and get a tie, it’s big for us.”
UFV’s record stands at four wins, three losses and one tie and they are in third place in the Canada West Pacific division. The men next host TWU on Friday at 7:30 p.m.