The good news is, the UNBC Timberwolves put their first win of the season on the board Friday in Kamloops against the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack.
The bad news - UNBC's women's soccer side lost its final match of the season in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canada Canada West conference on Saturday.
The 2-1 victory on Friday, combined with the 6-3 loss, signaled the end of the 2014 campaign for the T-wolves, who improved to 1-9-2 and five points in the Pacific Division and remain in fifth spot prior to the conclusion of the regular season this weekend.
On Saturday, it was two of the three Sydneys on the squad who factored in the scoring, as graduating forward Sydney Roy scored two goals (her fifth and sixth of the season) and Sydney Wilson added a single tally in the losing cause.
TRU exploded for four goals in the second half to earn its first victory of the season.
On Friday, the WolfPack took a 1-0 lead two-and-a-half minutes into the match, but Roy tallied her fourth goal of the season on a penalty kick at the 26:21 mark to pull UNBC into a 1-1 tie. Second-year midfielder Jessica Erickson then booted her first goal of the season and the winner, with an assist from graduating midfielder Katie Blokker.
The Timberwolves held on in the second half to secure the win. Goalkeeper Jordan Hall made nine out of 10 saves to earn her first victory of the season.
"On Friday we played very well and frustrated them in the second half," UNBC head coach Andy Cameron said on Tuesday. "The weekend was a great stepping stone for the program and we'll continue to build momentum from there."
The weekend also signified the end of the university careers for six T-wolves who will graduate with their degrees next spring. They are: Blokker (environmental science), defender Georgia Lahti (English), forward Roy (environmental engineering), defender Tanya Grob (biomedical studies), Wilson (nursing) and goalkeeper Kat Hartwig (biochemistry/molecular biology).
With that many players to replace in his lineup next season, Cameron traveled from Kamloops to Vancouver to take in the under-18 club nationals in Surrey to begin his recruiting process.
"We played in a more difficult division this season where we played the big schools [UBC, University of Victoria, Trinity Western] twice so the points were very competitive to get," he said. "But our quality of play substantially improved - last year we spent time in the defensive zone, this year we spent time on the other half of the field. We did generate an offensive game and offensively we generated more opportunities."
In 12 matches, the T-wolves scored nine goals and allowed 38.
The Canada West regular season concludes this weekend. Trinity Western, the University of the Fraser Valley, UVic and UBC hold down the top four spots respectively in the Pacific Division.
The T-wolves will resume their winter training this week in preparation for the 2015 season.
