Vikes women beaten in Canada West soccer final
The University of Victoria Vikes must content themselves with going into the U Sports women’s soccer national championships as the second seed out of Canada West.
That’s still considerable consolation for a team given little preseason notice, and which coach Tracy David says has taken it simply “one game at a time” in getting to the tournament in Winnipeg, which runs Thursday to Sunday.
The Trinity Western Spartans defeated the Vikes 2-1 in the Canada West final in Langley on Saturday. Georgia Bignold scored the goal for UVic, which has qualified for the national tournament for the first time since 2012.
The undefeated UVic women’s basketball team moved to 4-0 in Canada West thanks to a composed freshman wing player out of Kelowna who plays like anything but a rookie. Ashlyn Day scored 26 points and had four steals as the Vikes, trailing 70-60 at the end of the third quarter, rallied for an 84-80 victory over the Bobcats in Brandon.
“[Day] looks unassuming on the court, but has nice balance as a competitor and can play multiple positions for us,” Vikes coach Dani Sinclair said on the phone from Brandon.
“We recruited her heavily.” Day showed why over the weekend with Saturday’s performance coming after her 19 points in Friday’s 93-87 win as UVic swept Brandon.
Saturday’s result, however, wasn’t easy against the winless Bobcats (0-4).
“Brandon is an experienced team pressing to get a win,” Sinclair said. “Our defence finally came through in the fourth quarter, and we got big steals from [Day] and big rebounds from Marissa [Dheensaw] and converted them at the other end.”
Dheensaw had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Amira Giannattasio got 12 points and Kristy Gallagher and Katie Langdon nine points each for UVic.
“Being 4-0, including 2-0 on the road, is important because it gives our young group confidence,” Sinclair said. “The players aren’t over-thinking the season.”
The Vikes men have plenty to think about after spiralling to 1-3 in Canada West hoops, dropping an 80-70 decision Saturday in Brandon and being swept over the weekend by the Bobcats (2-2).