MSOC: Vikes cruise to finals berth
November 6, 2021
CALGARY - The University of Victoria Vikes stand victorious after a 5-0 win against the University of Fraser Valley Cascades today during their Canada West men's soccer Final Four match-up.
Both teams battled out the entire 90 minutes, leaving everything on the field during what was an incredibly heated match between the two sides.
The Vikes came out aggressive from the first whistle, with Jose Sagaste putting one up on the scoreboard. Mark Kaiser stepped up and took a free kick from 15 yards outside the box and was able to find the boot of Sagaste, placing a one touch shot into the back of the netting.
It only took 10 more minutes for Ian Whibley to add another to the Vikes' stat sheet after heading in a cross pass from Isaac Koch.
"We didn't really expect this," Sagaste said, the Vikes player of the game. "We knew they were going to battle the whole game so we came here to battle. Luckily we got some calls our way and we got some goals early on."
The Cascades were handed a red card early on, sending Jun Won Choi off in the 27th minute. From there the team put their heads down and pushed through the remaining time.
"We were unlucky, obviously going a goal down early didn't help and the game was kind of taken away from us," said Tom Lowndes, Cascades' head coach. "We're walking wounded right now so we are going to have to regroup and refocus and get ready for tomorrow."
Lowndes was the recipient of the team's first yellow card, followed by the team's athletic therapist William Schratz.
Victoria was able to capitalize a third time before the half came to a close with Trey Ference's unassisted goal sneaking past Cascades goalie, Jackson Cowx.
The second half was nothing short of exciting, with Victoria eager to hold the lead and UFV motivated to come back.
Fraser Valley's Parman Minhas and Sahib Sidhu led the charge, putting up four of the team's six shots on goal. Both Minhas and Sidhu demonstrated their skills and field IQ throughout the game and provided UFV with the chances they needed to keep them in the game.
"They caused us a few problems but I think our guys are going to regroup," Minhas said, the Cascades player of the game. "We're going to regroup, get our heads up and come back tomorrow and go get that bronze medal."
The Vikes had an impressive second half, scoring another two goals to lead the team to a 5-0 win that has not only secured them a spot in tomorrow afternoon's gold medal match, but also a place at the U SPORTS Championships hosted by Carleton University.
"It's going to be interesting to see who comes out of the [gold medal] game," Vikes head coach and Canada West Coach of the Year, Bruce Wilson. "Whoever we play, both teams go to nationals and that's a bonus."
Wilson said the team knew that UFV was a good team so they came out prepared for that, worked on their discipline and in turn deserved the win.
Both teams will be back at Mount Royal's Stadium Field for tomorrow's final games. Fraser Valley will play at 11 a.m. MT for the bronze while Victoria will play for gold at 2 p.m. MT. Tune into what is going to be an exciting day of soccer on Canada West TV presented by Co-op.
UFV Player of the game: Parman Minhas
VIC Player of the game: Jose Sagaste
Both teams battled out the entire 90 minutes, leaving everything on the field during what was an incredibly heated match between the two sides.
The Vikes came out aggressive from the first whistle, with Jose Sagaste putting one up on the scoreboard. Mark Kaiser stepped up and took a free kick from 15 yards outside the box and was able to find the boot of Sagaste, placing a one touch shot into the back of the netting.
It only took 10 more minutes for Ian Whibley to add another to the Vikes' stat sheet after heading in a cross pass from Isaac Koch.
"We didn't really expect this," Sagaste said, the Vikes player of the game. "We knew they were going to battle the whole game so we came here to battle. Luckily we got some calls our way and we got some goals early on."
The Cascades were handed a red card early on, sending Jun Won Choi off in the 27th minute. From there the team put their heads down and pushed through the remaining time.
"We were unlucky, obviously going a goal down early didn't help and the game was kind of taken away from us," said Tom Lowndes, Cascades' head coach. "We're walking wounded right now so we are going to have to regroup and refocus and get ready for tomorrow."
Lowndes was the recipient of the team's first yellow card, followed by the team's athletic therapist William Schratz.
Victoria was able to capitalize a third time before the half came to a close with Trey Ference's unassisted goal sneaking past Cascades goalie, Jackson Cowx.
The second half was nothing short of exciting, with Victoria eager to hold the lead and UFV motivated to come back.
Fraser Valley's Parman Minhas and Sahib Sidhu led the charge, putting up four of the team's six shots on goal. Both Minhas and Sidhu demonstrated their skills and field IQ throughout the game and provided UFV with the chances they needed to keep them in the game.
"They caused us a few problems but I think our guys are going to regroup," Minhas said, the Cascades player of the game. "We're going to regroup, get our heads up and come back tomorrow and go get that bronze medal."
The Vikes had an impressive second half, scoring another two goals to lead the team to a 5-0 win that has not only secured them a spot in tomorrow afternoon's gold medal match, but also a place at the U SPORTS Championships hosted by Carleton University.
"It's going to be interesting to see who comes out of the [gold medal] game," Vikes head coach and Canada West Coach of the Year, Bruce Wilson. "Whoever we play, both teams go to nationals and that's a bonus."
Wilson said the team knew that UFV was a good team so they came out prepared for that, worked on their discipline and in turn deserved the win.
Both teams will be back at Mount Royal's Stadium Field for tomorrow's final games. Fraser Valley will play at 11 a.m. MT for the bronze while Victoria will play for gold at 2 p.m. MT. Tune into what is going to be an exciting day of soccer on Canada West TV presented by Co-op.
UFV Player of the game: Parman Minhas
VIC Player of the game: Jose Sagaste