TWU's Pogue lifts No. 1 Spartans over No. 5 Vikes

by Scott Stewart, TWU Sports Information

LANGLEY, B.C. - Behind two more goals by Trinity Western University forward Nathan Pogue (Seaside, Ore.) the No. 1 Spartans defeated the No. 5 University of Victoria Vikes 2-1 Friday night at TWU's Langley, B.C. campus. The win gives TWU five straight and puts them at an undefeated 6-0-2 in Canada West conference play. The loss drops the Vikes to 5-3-1.

"We knew it would be a hardnosed game against a very good team tonight and if you're not up to the challenge you are not going to do well," commented TWU head coach Pat Rohla. "We are getting better, but we still have a lot of work to do for us to get to where we want to be. It's not natural, but it is coming."

Pogue's two goals give him seven on the season, which is good enough for first place in Canada West. His first marker of the game also gave the fourth-year forward the outright TWU career goal scoring lead. His 34 goals puts him two ahead of Adrian Kekec ('09) for most career goals as a Spartan.

In addition to Pogue's fine play up front TWU keeper Andrew Kowan (Richmond, B.C.) was solid in keeping the high scoring Vikes to one goal to record his second win of the season, which is almost a goal below their season average of 1.67.

"I think for the most part holding Victoria to one goal is a good result and it looks good on our back line and Andrew Kowan making a really good save," commented TWU head coach Pat Rohla on his depleted defending unit, who were without three starters for tonight's match. "All the boys have been paying attention to details and working hard in training which shows that anybody has the potential to start for us."

Pogue opened the scoring in the fifth minute to give TWU an early 1-0 lead. Pogue was the beneficiary of a fine play by midfielder Ioannis Tsoulouhas (Bellingham, Wash.). Tsoulouhas hit a shot past Victoria's Dan Kilpatrick (Victoria) and off of the Vikes crossbar. Pogue came charging in from the right side and beat the Vikes defenders to the ball and headed it into the centre of the Victoria net.

The Vikes leading goal scorer Cole McFarlane (Calgary) tied the match up in the 11th minutes. McFarlane picked up a clearing pass just outside the top left side of the TWU 18 yard box. The Victoria forward hit a beautifully bending shot through traffic and into the lower right corner of the TWU net to tie the match at 1-1.

The two teams exchanged chance through the remainder of the half, but remained knotted at 1-1 after 45 minutes.

"Initially we played direct hoping that our size and speed would give them problems, but we stayed in the mode two long and it caused us problems later in the half," added Rohla. "But we made adjustments at half and it showed in a good result for us."

The Spartans came out strong to start the second half. And four minutes in Pogue got the winner for Trinity Western. After sustained pressure Pogue hit a shot to the left side of the Vikes net. Victoria looked like they had cleared the ball off of the line as TWU took two more shots and eventually scored again, but the head official and the linesman determined that Pogue's initial shot did in fact pass over the goal line to give the home team the 2-1 lead.

The remainder of the half was back and forth with the Spartans holding a slight edge early with the Vikes coming on strong as the clock wound down. TWU's Kowan made back-to-back saves in the 77th minute, including a diving stop on Wesley Barrett (Richmond, B.C.) to keep the Spartans in the lead. Barrett had another shot in extra time, but it went wide as TWU held on for the victory.

Kowan made five saves in the win, while Kilpatrick made five saves in the loss.

Next up for the Spartans is the University of the Fraser Valley (2-7-0). Game time Saturday at TWU is set for 7:15 p.m. PDT. Next up for the Vikes is at UBC (5-3-0).

Match Notes
McFarlane's goal give him six on the season, which puts him in second spot in Canada West... Pogue also leads CW in points with nine... TWU outshot Victoria 12-11? the Vikes lead Canada West with 18.22 shots per game and 8.56 shots on goal per game... TWU, which has won two straight, is 7-10-3 life time against Victoria... Pogue has back-to-back two goal matches and has scored in five of TWU's eight Canada West matche