Not even Mother Nature could slow down the UNBC Timberwolves.
A trio of first half goals from Koby Greaves, Michael Henman and Abou Cisse led the T-Wolves to a 3-1 rain-soaked road victory on Friday against the Fraser Valley Cascades in Canada West men’s soccer action.
The Cascades biggest push in the contest came in the game’s opening 10 minutes as Charandeep Rangi connected on a well-played ball by Taylor Richardson for a 1-0 edge.
UFV continued to push the pace as another chance from deep inside the UNBC box was swept off the line by backliner Cody Gysbers. Timberwolves goalkeeper Daniel Zadravec then made a point blank save moments later on to keep the deficit to a single goal.
Once play settled down, UNBC took the game over as Greaves accepted a pass from Cisse to beat Cascades netminder Jackson Cowx to even the score at 1-1.
KOBYYYYYY
Greaves knots it at 1-1 in the 17th minute on a gorgeous finish pic.twitter.com/0OO5wp5Wf1
— UNBC Athletics (@UNBCATHLETICS) October 22, 2022
Nine minutes later, the speed of Julian Daduica proved too much for the hosts to handle as he set up the game-winner for Michael Henman who notched his 19th of the season, tied for the most in conference in terms of a single season.
HISTORY!!!!!
The Mailman with his 19th of the season! Michael Henman has tied the @CanadaWest single-season record!! pic.twitter.com/0xLNR9Xaba
— UNBC Athletics (@UNBCATHLETICS) October 22, 2022
Daduica was at it again as he blazed past a number of UFV defenders and found a hard-charging Cisse who put his head on the airborne ball to beat Cowx.
In the second half, Henman had a chance to break the Canada West record in the 74th minute but his bullet-like shot was stopped by Cowx.
Henman had a game-high 5 shots.
The Mailman pic.twitter.com/UTNPFwswg5
— UNBC Athletics (@UNBCATHLETICS) October 22, 2022
With the win, UNBC improves to 8-4-3 on the season while the Cascades slip to 6-6-2.
The Timberwolves got some help on the Canada West out-of-town scoreboard as the Victoria Vikes battled to a 0-0 tie against the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack out on Vancouver Island.
With that result, UNBC moves into second place while TRU (7-3-4) has to defeat the UBC Thunderbirds (9-3-2) tomorrow night in Vancouver in order to keep pace with the T-Wolves. UNBC and Fraser Valley conclude the regular season on Sunday at noon.
Speaking of the Thunderbirds, they extinguished the UBC Okanagan Heat tonight (Friday) by a 7-0 score. With the loss, the Heat are eliminated from playoff contention while UFV clinches the fourth and final spot in the Pacific Division.