The TWU Spartans women’s soccer team concluded their 2019 preseason with a 3-1 win over Concordia University (Ore.) Saturday afternoon at Chase Office Field.
Fourth-year forward Nicole Bolder (Calgary) scored two goals for the Spartans in the win, while Spartans keeper Hannah Miller (Langley) made three saves in the win. Rachel Hutchinson (Cloverdale, B.C.) also scored for the Spartans, tallying the first of the contest.
Concordia midfielder Haley Leavens rounded out the scoring with a late goal in the second half for the Cavaliers.
In what was a defensive battle early, TWU struck first when Hutchinson tapped home an Aliya Coy (Calgary) cross from the left side in the 33rd minute to make it 1-0.
The Spartans continued to add to their lead in the second half when Bolder scored off a penalty kick in the 51st minute. Bolder added yet another goal eight minutes later to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead.
Concordia cut the lead to two late in the second half, after Leavens scored in the 86th minute to make it 3-1.
TWU held a 10-9 advantage in total shots, and a 6-4 edge in shots on goal. The Spartans also finished the afternoon with a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks.
The Spartans open the regular season on the road Sept. 6, as they travel to UBC to take on the Thunderbirds. Match time is set for 6:30 p.m. PT and will be played at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver.
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TWU Head Coach Graham Roxburgh
“Obviously a long four and a half weeks of preseason, so any time you can win your final game it’s a bonus. I think we had some tired legs and some tired minds, but I think we persevered. In playing a good team today in Concordia today we looked good. I’m glad we got a chance to play everybody as we got good minutes from the majority of the squad.”
On key performers today
“I’m really pleased that Nicole had a good performance to finish her preseason. She started the preseason really well, so I was pleased to see her go out and score two goals and create chances for our team. Rachel was also lively and got down the line, and our midfielders in Maddie (Melnychuk, Langley) and Jenaya (Robertson, Delta, B.C.) were industrious and kept us in possession, which we have talked a lot about. However, I still think we gave possession away a little too much. Brooklyn (Tidder, White Rock, B.C.) had a good game defensively, while Hannah’s distribution was really good. All in all we’re learning together and growing together having a great preseason, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be by the end of the season.”
