After struggling on the road during the last two weekends in sa国际传媒 West men's soccer, the University of Victoria Vikes may have turned their season around.
On Friday at Centennial Stadium, the Vikes blanked the Alberta Golden Bears 1-0 to move their record to 3-3-1. The Bears, now with five wins and a loss, are currently ranked No. 1 in Canadian Interuniversity Sport.
All three of the losses and the tie have come on the road for Victoria, the defending CIS champions.
"I felt a little bit robbed tonight, but it was great to get the goal and the win,'' said UVic's Craig Gorman.
Gorman scored in the 53rd minute on a penalty kick after Cam Hundal was tackled in the box by Niko Saler. Gorman had other quality scoring chances, only to be turned away by Alberta goalkeeper Jay Vetsch.
"Hopefully, this win will turn it around for us,'' Gorman said. "We can forget our last couple of games and pick up from here. It is a good feeling to beat the top team in sa国际传媒. Everyone did their jobs tonight.''
"That was a tough game,'' UVic coach Bruce Wilson said. "Alberta has a very good team, and now we just have to build off this result.''
In the women's game, sa国际传媒 West goal-scoring leader Emma Greig had a monstrous first half as the Vikes cruised to an 11-0 victory over the Winnipeg Wesmen.
In her 45 minutes of playing time, second-year player Greig collected three goals and three assists. In six games, Greig has 11 goals and three assists.
"I didn't expect to have so many goals this early in the season,'' said Greig, who has yet to play a full game this year. "I just happen to be at the right place to score. Winnipeg isn't up to sa国际传媒 West calibre yet, and when we are playing the weaker teams, we want to make sure that we don't develop bad habits.''
Lindsay Hoetzel and Jaclyn Sawicki each scored two goals in the first half as the Vikes held a commanding 8-0 lead after 45 minutes. Jackie Harrison and rookie Sarah Douglas also scored two goals for UVic, which hasn't allowed any in its last five games and only one all season.
"We were very good again tonight, but we still did a few things that we have to get out of our system,'' said UVic coach Tracy David.
The Vikes, ranked No. 8 by the CIS, now have five wins and a tie. Winnipeg, a new team this year in sa国际传媒 West, has one tie and six losses.
Both UVic teams are back in action today at Centennial Stadium. The women play the Manitoba Bisons at 5 p.m., followed by the men against Saskatchewan at 7: 15 p.m.
