Silver for one local athlete meant gold for another, as Salmon Arm’s Amanda Barrett and her TRU Wolfpack teammates claimed the PACWEST women’s soccer league title Sunday.
Defeating the host UBCO Okanagan Heat 2-1 in overtime, this win was the ’Pack’s 13th match without a defeat as well as TRU’s first title since 2003-04.
“I am so proud of the players here,” said TRU head coach Tom McManus. “They worked so hard. They bought into what we were teaching them and did a great job.”
In the 80th minute of the second Barrett was elbowed by a UBCO player while battling the ball, unfortunately having to leave the game with a cut to the head.
Although this forward missed out on playing the remainder of the title game, she won’t be missing out on the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, where the Wolfpack are headed Nov. 9.
Silver medal
UBCO Heat women’s soccer team claimed a bittersweet silver medal Sunday after the team lost the close one in extra time to the TRU Wolfpack at the PACWEST women’s soccer championships.
This is the second consecutive year the Heat has earned a provincial medal, winning bronze in 2010.
Salmon Arm’s Sydney Nakazawa. in her fourth year at UBCO, is a midfielder with the team.
Bronze win
Three Salmon Arm athletes can add PACWEST bronze medal winners to their resume, after their team, the UBC Okanagan Heat overtook the UNBC Timberwolves 3-2 in the men’s soccer final.
Salmon Arm’s Andrew Hauser was responsible for two of those goals, leading the Heat to a 3-0 lead just 30 minutes into the game. While the Timberwolves made a two-goal comeback, the Heat weathered the storm, holding on to the Sunday victory. Also from Salmon Arm, defender Dylan Abbott and goalkeeper Morgan Stanton share the win with Hauser.
This is the first provincial medal in men’s soccer at UBC Okanagan since the school rejoined the league in 1992.
The Heat improved from 2-9-1 the previous season to provincial medalists, losing just three matches all year, two of them to the top-ranked VIU Mariners.
The Heat went 4-2-5 in the regular season and finished the championships with two wins out of the three games played.