The Lethbridge Pronghorns proved to be anything but a pushover for the UNBC Timberwolves.
Francesco Bartolillo’s penalty kick goal proved to be enough on Friday at Masich Place Stadium as UNBC escaped with a 1-0 victory.
MSOC: @F_Bartolillo converts a sublime penalty to put @UNBCMSoccer up 1-0 against @UofLPronghorns!! #goTwolves pic.twitter.com/Djr1i3NncY
— UNBC Athletics (@UNBCATHLETICS) September 22, 2018
In what was considered a tight-checking affair, the winless Pronghorns gave the T-Wolves all they could handle for 90 minutes as they nearly equaled the hosts in every statistical category except for the scoreboard.
You could also make the arguement the Timberwolves could have buried Lethbridge in the second half had it not been for a number of offside calls, three of which, were made on Matt Jubinville who was all over the ball for UNBC but was unable to find the back of the net against Pronghorns goalkeeper Nolan French.
“We held on, it was only a 1-0 game but we had a few chance where we could have buried a few and that’s what we talked about before the game we need to be able to pull out wins even if it’s a tight game like that.”
The victory was also a mix of youth and experience for UNBC who had several first and second year players on the field creating chances and defending a one goal lead as players like Michael Henman, Anthony Preston and Pierre Barrafranca were pushed into some prime minutes.
Jubinvile believes the depth of the Timberwolves is coming to the forefront.
“We’ve always been short on depth and that’s one big thing this year is that we are able to switch up formations during the game and make it easier on us going down the road playing two games in a weekend is tough sometimes.”
The defeat was equally as disappointing for the Pronghorns, especially for local product and DP Todd Secondary graduate Sean Gaiesky.
“It’s always nice to come back home in front of an awesome facility and play against a lot of the guys I grew up with so it was fun.”
“We knew we were coming into a tough game tonight as UNBC is always a hardworking team so props to them as they got the one goal and we couldn’t equalize.”
The painful start to the Canada West Soccer season continues for Gaiesky and Lethbridge as they drop to 0-6-1 on the season.
The Timberwolves on the other hand, improve to 2-1-2 and will host the Calgary Dinos (3-4) on Sunday at Noon.
UPDATE: (Saturday night)
The UNBC women’s soccer team fell on the road Friday night 2-1 to the Fraser Valley Cascades and 4-3 Saturday night to the Trinity Western Spartans.
Paige Payne scored for the Lady Timberwolves against Fraser Valley.
Madison Emmond, Sofia Jones and Julia Babicz tallied for UNBC, against Trinity Western.
The (1-3-2) Lady Timberwolves will host the UBC Thunderbirds Friday night at 6 and the Victoria Vikes Sunday, September 30th at noon at Masich Place.