MEN’S SOCCER (CANADA WEST FINAL FOUR)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2011
UBC (2) TRINTIY WESTERN (1) (4-3 - PKs)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS LOSE FINAL FOUR SEMIFINAL TO UBC IN PENALTY KICKS

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western men’s soccer team’s dreams of a berth in the CIS national championship were squashed Saturday afternoon when they lost 2-1 (4-3 on PKs) to UBC in the Canada West Final Four semifinal in Victoria.

The Thunderbirds Gagandeep Dosanjh, who scored UBC’s regulation time goal, notched what would prove to be the winning penalty kick on UBC’s fifth and final attempt as the Thunderbirds reached the Canada West final where they will play either Alberta or Victoria in Sunday final at 2:15 p.m.

Trinity Western’s James Farenhorst, who replied for the Spartans in regulation, had a chance to tie it up on the Spartans fifth kick but he was stymied by Thunderbirds goalie Luke O’Shea and the celebration was on for UBC.

O’Shea ended up making stops on both Spencer Schmidt and Farenhorst while UBC’s Kent O’Connor was the lone Thunderbird to miss his attempt as his shot hit the crossbar.

The Thunderbirds will now play Alberta in the Canada West gold medal match where both a conference banner and a berth in the national championship will be on the line.

The Spartans will Victoria in the bronze medal tilt Sunday at 12:00 p.m.

The teams exchanged a number of good opportunities in the opening half but neither team could find the net.

A Spartans free kick in the 7th minute of play was blasted over top of the net by Spencer Schmidt. About 20 minutes later, UBC had the best opening-half chance on a beautiful give-and-go-and-give-again play between fullback Tyson Keam and Sean Haley but Haley's low curler sailed just wide of the far post.

The deadlock was broken in the 49th minute when Dosanjh split the defence, took a pass from Haley and drove a ball low that beat Spartans goalkeeper Andrew Fink to give UBC the 1-0 lead.

"It was a good ball from Sean Haley, he deserves the credit," said Dosanjh. "He flicked the ball onto himself and made a perfect pass to my feet, he made it easy to score."

"Getting that first goal is important it forces the other team to take chances and work harder. It was huge today," he said.

But the Spartans tied the game when Farenhorst converted on a Schmidt corner kick, driving the ball home on a beautiful header in the 63rd minute.

Dosanjh, a constant thorn in the side of the Spartans defence, thought he scored UBC's second goal in the 76th minute but the referee ruled he had fouled Trinity Western's goalkeeper Fink and disallowed the goal.

Trinity Western was called for a handball at the top of the 18-yard box in the 83rd minute, but UBC’s Navid Mishinchi's shot sailed over the crossbar and out of play.

O'Shea made two big saves in the final five minutes of regulation, robbing Schmidt inside the box and stopping Liam McAllister's header in the fina minute.

Nothing changed in the two periods of extra time with few chances. UBC lost Miguel Michelena midway through overtime as he was sent off with a red card for a boot to the face of Spartans player Brayden Gant. It was a physical affair with 31 fouls in total.

In the kicks from the penalty spot, Brendan Bonifacio, Marco Visintin, Devin Gunenc and Dosanjh scored for UBC, while Kent O'Connor hit the the joint of the crossbar and goalpost. Gant, going off O'Shea, then the post and in, Shawn Parkes and Goran Vitic scored on penalty kicks for the Spartans, with Schmidt and Farenhorst being stopped by O'Shea.

Game Notes – The Spartans had 23 shots to UBC’s 18 and 10 shots on goal compared to UBC’s six…TWU’s Dan Lowen (72nd) and Spencer Schmidt (96th) were shown yellow cards while UBC’s Gregory Smith (90th) was shown yellow to go along with Michelena’s red (104th).
 
-TW-