Hometown highlight
P.G.’s Jubinville delivers winning goal for Timberwolves men’s soccer team
How do the UNBC Timberwolves spell jubilation? J-U-B-I-NV-I-L-L-E. It took four tries and three scoreless draws in two seasons, but the UNBC Timberwolves men’s soccer team finally beat the Heat and Matt Jubinville ended the scoring drought with his first goal of the season.
Jubinville, playing in his last home game in a T-wolves uniform, provided all the offence needed in a 1-0 triumph over the UBC Okanagan Heat Sunday at Masich Place Stadium.
The 25-year-old forward from Prince George was standing in the right place at the right time in the Heat crease when teammate Conrad Rowlands flicked the ball over to him after Francesco Bartolillo lobbed in a kick from the corner. Jubinville got his foot on the loose ball and lifted a shot in behind Heat goalie Nicholas Reitsma 42 minutes into the 90-minute game.
It was Jubinville’s first strike since Sept. 18, 2015.
Throughout his university career Jubinville has battled ankle and back injuries that have limited his playing time and he jogged off the field with an icepack attached to his lower back. He played just five games last season and missed the entire 2016 season.
Although Jubinville has one year left of playing eligibility, he’s graduating from UNBC this school year. Sunday’s game was his last at home playing for his hometown team.
“It’s going to feel weird, I’ve played competitive soccer in Prince George my entire life,” said Jubinville. “It’s bittersweet.
“I took a few seasons off and ever since then I’ve struggled with injuries off and on and it’s tough to get back into it. It’s a very competitive league. But I’m starting to feel good again.”
That’s good news for the Twolves. They’re going to need a healthy Jubinville to extend their season. The T-wolves ended a four-game winless streak and jumped into third place in the U Sport Canada West conference Pacific Division standings.
The Heat (2-7-5, seventh in Pacific), trying to pull themselves into a playoff position after they tied UNBC 0-0 on Saturday, certainly had their chances. They got close to the T-wolves goal a number of times and either put their shots wide or had their scoring attempts smothered by goalie Rob Goodey, who made 10 saves for his fifth shutout in 13 games this season.
“UBCO came out fighting for their lives and we knew they would,” said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson. “Every game’s been tight with them the last couple years and we’re happy the way we closed it out. It was tough at the end but we did it. It was a hard-fought contest.”
Simonson liked the way his team handled the pressure while locking up the win to move up a position in the standings. If the season ended now, the T-wolves would be playing the second-seeded Prairie Division team (Calgary) in the Canada West quarterfinals.
“That’s a lot of stress,” said Simonson. “Before (this season) they were trying to claw their way into playoffs and now they’ve fought their way to third place. That’s new territory for us so I’m really pleased about that.”
The best chance for the Heat came in the 62nd minute when Jimmy Steel lofted a corner kick that led to a frantic scramble in front of the net. Luke Warkentin blasted a shot that beat Goodey and was heading into the net but UNBC defender Joel Watson got his head on the ball while standing on the goal line. The rebound came out to Steel, whose shot was blocked by Cody Gysbers.
“That was very close, it went off me and it went off Cody as well, and that’s as close as they got today,” said Watson. “It definitely feels good now that (clinching a playoff spot) is in our hands – we’ve mostly secured our spot. We have two hard games next week, which will be good.”
The T-wolves made a few attempts to try to pad their lead but were unable to muster much of a threat on Reitsma and that made for some tense moments on a handful of occasions when the Heat got close to the UNBC net.
Each team finished with 10 shots on goal.
UNBC (5-3-5) has a .513 winning percentage, slightly better than the fourth-place Fraser Valley Cascades (6-6-1, .487). The T-wolves and Cascades, who play each other in a two-game set in Abbotsford next weekend, occupy the final two playoff spots in the division, followed by fifth-place Victoria (4-7-3, .357) and sixthplace Thompson Rivers University (6-6-3, .333).
To qualify for their secondstraight postseason berth the T-wolves need just one more point or to have TRU tie or lose one of its three remaining games. TRU will face division-leading UBC, secondplace Trinity Western and Victoria to close out the regular season.
Meanwhile, in Canada West women’s soccer Sunday in Lethbridge, Raeleen Vanden Dungen scored the only goal of the game in a 88th minute to lift the host Pronghorns (2-9-1, seventh in Prairie Division) to a 1-0 victory over the UNBC Timberwolves.
Chelsey Galbraith made three saves to notch the shutout. Lethbridge outshot UNBC 10-3.
The T-wolves (1-8-3) have lost four straight and remain eighth in the Pacific Division. Heading into the final weekend of the season, home games against TRU and UBC Okanagan, UNBC still has a remote chance of leapfrogging both of those teams into the sixth and final playoff spot but will have to sweep their remaining games.