MEN'S SOCCER
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014
CANADA WEST REGULAR SEASON
TRINITY WESTERN (0) VICTORIA (0)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOWTHER HELPS SPARTANS HOLD NO. 6 VICTORIA TO SCORELESS DRAW 

LANGLEY, British Columbia – Trinity Western men's soccer goalie Evan Lowther (Surrey, B.C.) made eight saves – two of which were absolute game-savers – to help the Spartans earn a 0-0 tie with No. 6 ranked Victoria Friday at Rogers Field. 

After a see-saw first half, the Vikes took control in the second half and outshot TWU 13-1 over the final 45 minutes and 5-1 in shots on goal, but, ultimately, they were unable to solve Lowther. 

The scoreless draw left neither team happy as the Spartans are now 3-4-2 on the season and the Vikes, who could have made up ground on UBC, who lost to Fraser Valley on Friday, are 6-1-2. The Spartans are now two points behind UBC Okanagan, with a game in hand, for the fourth and final playoff position in the Pacific Division.

In the second half, Lowther made a pair of highlight reel saves that kept the Spartans in the game.

In the 76th minute, a rocket off the foot of Victoria's Cam Hundal looked destined to break the deadlock, but Lowther got a hand to it, deflecting it just enough to force the ball into the crossbar and stay out. The ball bounced down inside the box, but the Vikes were unable to corral the rebound.

Seven minutes later, the Vikes came close again as Justin Donaldson-Andrade put a shot on target from inside the box, but Lowther, leaping to his left, punched the ball just over the bar.
Playing without leading goal-scorer Vito Poletto (Calgary), who was suspended after getting a red card in the Spartans previous game, TWU put three shots on net, but Victoria goalie Noah Pawlowski earned the shutout relatively unchallenged.  

"We started off okay and we had moments in the game when thought if we could keep it going, we'd be fine," said Spartans coach Pat Rohla. "I thought UVic was good tonight, but Evan Lowther was fantastic tonight. Regardless of what (our situation) looks like and feels like, we have to go play well tomorrow and we'll take a point from tonight."

The Spartans are back at home Saturday when they will host No. 1 ranked UBC at 7 p.m. The Vikes travel to play. 

Throughout much of the first half, the teams went back and forth, but only combined for five shots on target. At halftime, the Vikes held an 8-7 edge in total shots but the Spartans had a 3-2 lead in shots on target.

Early in the second half, the Vikes Adam Ravenhill had the first quality chance of the half when he deked through two Spartans defenders and took a quality crack on goal from 25 yards out in the 57th minute. However his shot sailed just over the bar.

From there, the Vikes offence came in waves. Victoria had a number of chances off of corner kicks, but despite its efforts, Lowther wasn't going to be beaten on this night. 

Game Notes: TWU was whistled for seven fouls while Victoria had four fouls.

-TW-