The UNBC community showed up in a major way on Friday night during the first UNBC Tailgate party of the season, presented by Hub City Volkswagen. With a huge crowd on hand, the action on the pitch rivalled the excitement off of it. Unfortunately for the home side it was first-year midfielder Spencer Mellett on the UBCO side who silenced the crowd with a goal in the 66th minute, propelling the UBC Okanagan Heat (2-2-1) to a 1-0 road victory over the UNBC Timberwolves (0-4-1).
The score at halftime was 0-0, but UNBC arguably deserved better. Steve Simonson’s crew came out of the gates strong, matching the energy that the boisterous crowd provided. First-year midfielder Mehdi Bounaaja brought the crowd to their feet in the 19th minute with a clear look from the right side of the penalty area. But Heat goalkeeper Ronan Woodroffe dove to his left and kept it out.
Bounaaja finished the first half with two shots on target while Hagon Kim, Isaac Tate and Charlie Stewart also hit the target with shot attempts.
Not to be outdone at the other side, UNBC goalkeeper Logan Pierce made three first half saves off Zack MacInnes, Malachi Emerson and Spencer Mellett.
Defensively some good things took place for UNBC, especially from the pair of second-year defenders, Koss Nystedt and Hagon Kim. Nystedt, the reigning UNBC male rookie of the year, received Mr. Mike’s Player of the Game honours for his defensive efforts on Friday.
Shots on goal at half favoured UNBC by a 5-3 margin, but the score was deadlocked at 0-0.
In the 66th minute, Mellett’s big moment for UBCO unfolded.
Heat defender Jacob York started the sequence with a shot from the left wing that Pierce got in front of. Unfortunately a mad scramble in front of Pierce led to a clean look for Mellett in close. Pierce got some of it, but not enough of it, and the Heat were up 1-0.
Down the stretch, the Heat continue to apply solid offensive pressure on the Timberwolves, but Pierce and his defenders stood their ground. Emerson, York, Mellett and Alex Sol all had shots down the stretch that came up empty. UBCO outshot UNBC 6-1 in the second half en route to victory.
The final shot totals favoured UBCO by a 9-6 margin and both teams ended the night with three corner kicks, and eight fouls apiece.
Saturday's rematch was a 1-1 draw.
Luke Graham scored his first ever Canada West goal in the 65th minute, drawing the TWolves even with the Heat at 1-1. Graham’s thrilling reverse-header strike came 10 minutes after Rory Clements had opened the scoring for the Heat off a rebound in close.
The energy from the TWolves was evident all night and Saturday’s home effort leaves plenty of good for them to build on with two more home games on the docket for next weekend.
