Katie Blokker did her best to stay relaxed on the weekend.
But it was tough for the five-foot-four veteran player who patrols the midfield for UNBC's women's soccer side.
It was Blokker's last weekend suiting up on UNBC's home pitch against the Trinity Western University Spartans. The T-wolves conclude the regular season Friday and Saturday against Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
After the final whistle sounded and after the Timberwolves suffered a 4-1 loss on Sunday, Blokker was one of six women's graduating players who gathered in front of their teammates and fans to be recognized for their time spent playing university soccer in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canada West Conference.
"This team means a lot and I appreciate everything," said Blokker after Sunday's contest. "We worked well as a team and we stayed positive and we came in ready to make plays. Our intensity increased from last year and we had better focus."
Besides Blokker, who will graduate with her environmental science degree next spring, the T-wolves also said farewell Sunday to defender Georgia Lahti (English), forward Sidney Roy (environmental engineering), defender Tanya Grob (biomedical studies), striker Sydney Wilson (nursing) and goalkeeper Kat Hartwig (biochemistry/molecular biology) who will earn their degrees next spring.
Roy scored UNBC's lone goal in the first half of Sunday's match against the Spartans as the two sides were even 1-1 going into the second half.
TWU, the defending CIS national champions, then scored three goals in the final 45 minutes to secure the win.
The Spartans shut out the Timberwolves 2-0 Saturday with two second-half goals.
UNBC fell to 0-8-2 with two points to remain in sixth place in the Pacific Division, while TWU improves to 7-0-1 and sit tied for first place in the division with the University of Victoria.
"We gave it our all against the national champions," said Wilson, who attended high school at Duchess Park secondary, after Sunday's contest. "This is bittersweet and emotional for us playing our last games at home. This [playing at home] means everything to me. Soccer is a huge passion of mine and they always talk about the student athlete, but I became an athletic student."
Despite the pair of losses, UNBC head coach Andy Cameron was proud of his team's play on the weekend.
"We played a team that's won six national championships in nine years," he said. "For us to play the way we did...this team can compete with the national champions."
He was also grateful to his group of veterans who will leave the team.
"They've done all the hard work and taken this program to where it is today."
