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Record-setting win for UFV Cascades soccer

Men’s soccer team blasts UBC, women’s losing streak continues
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Mikael Mainella splits a pair of UBC defenders during Canada West action on Sunday (Oct. 3). (UFV Cascades photo)

After weeks of sputtering offensive results on the scoreboards, the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades men’s soccer team historically exploded against the UBC Thunderbirds on Sunday (Oct. 4).

Despite only scoring one goal in the previous five games, the Cascades finally found their finish and earned an impressive 5-1 win at Rotary Stadium.

Midfielder Trevor Zanatta set a new Canada West single-game record with four assists, and the Cascades got two goals from Manpal Brar and singles from Jun Won Choi, Anthony Vega and Taylor Richardson.

Zanatta’s achievement was special because CW players have reached three assists on 15 different occasions, but no one had ever reached four until Sunday.

More importantly, it was the first win of the season for the Cascades jump starts them back into the playoff conversation. UFV now sits at 1-3-2 after the weekend.

“I see these guys day in and day out in training, and they score goals for fun,” Lowndes said. “And it seems to be, for whatever reason lately, when we get to the game days, we struggle to score.

“But once the first one went in, and definitely the second one, you could see the confidence going through the guys. We created even more chances … and we could have scored a few more goals as well which was great to see.

“Any time you score five goals, it’s great, but to do that against a quality program in UBC, No. 9 in the country, is obviously very pleasing.”

Sunday’s win comes off a 1-0 loss to UBC on Friday (Oct. 1) in Abbotsford. It was the second 1-0 loss this season for the Cascades and fourth time the club has been shut out.

Meanwhile, the struggles continue for the Cascades women, as they lost 2-0 to UBC on Friday and then fell 2-1 on Sunday. Halle McCambley scored the lone goal over the weekend for the women.

“It was definitely a better game to watch, in comparison to Friday,” Cascades assistant coach Shelby Beck said on Sunday. “We came out and were able to keep more possession, which was nice to see. Obviously it was great to get our first goal and get that momentum, it’s just too bad it was later in the game and we didn’t finish our chances earlier. If we can get that push going forward, we’ll be able to stay in games longer and hopefully come out with a win.”

The women still have yet to record a victory this season, and have posted a record of 0-4-2.

Both the men and women next travel to Kamloops to take on the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack on Friday (Oct. 8) and Saturday (Oct. 9).



Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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