The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack are unbeaten after their first weekend of play in Canada West men’s soccer.

After having the bye last weekend, the Pack got a hat trick from veteran James Fraser in a 5-0 shutout over the UVIC Vikes on Sunday (Sept 1).

Fraser, a fourth year forward from Penticton, BC has four goals in two matches to take over the league lead in scorer.  Jackson Gardner earned the ‘clean sheet’: his first of the year and third of his Canada West career.

COMMENTS BY WOLFPACK FORWARD JAMES FRASER (4TH YEAR PENTICTON, BC):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1168308380999372800

The other markers were scored by Dylan Hooper (2nd year, midfield, Winnipeg, MB) and Jordano Pinto (1st year, midfield, Vancouver, BC).

TRU moves to 1-0-1 (after a 1-1 draw with UBC on Saturday) while UVIC falls to 2-2.

SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack opened the scoring at the 25th minute mark when former Vike Justin Donaldson (5th year, midfield, Kamloops, BC), took on three Victoria defenders and moved from left to mid field where he slid it over to Hooper who beat Vikes keeper Harjot Nijjar (2nd year, Surrey, BC)

In the 43rd minute, Fraser was hauled down in the box and was awarded a penalty shot and went left side of the net.  TRU led 2-0 at the half as they outshot Victoria 9-7.

The second half was totally dominated by the home side.   Fraser notched his second goal in the 70 th minute as Jan Pirrates (3rd year, midfield, Barcelona, Spain) sent him a though ball and he cashed in going to the lower left of the cage.

In the 84th minute, Josh Banton (3rd  year, defender, Lee-on-Sea, England) rushed down field and found open space. His shot was saved by Nijjar but Fraser was there to flick the rebound in for his fourth goal of the young season.

TRU added one more in stoppage time as  Zahk Barone (2nd year, midfield, Kamloops BC) made a nice cutback and found Jordano Pinto (1st year, midfield, Vancouver, BC) who went low for his first Canada West goal.

Gardner faced eight shots to earn the shutout.   He made two saves in the match compared to Nijjar’s seven.

Thompson Rivers outshot Victoria 20-8 (11-1 in the second half) and had five corner kicks to the Vikes three.

COMMENTS BY  VIKES HEAD COACH BRUCE WILSON (32ND SEASON):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1168305570782183424

UP NEXT:

The Pack will hit the road for the first time in 2019 as they will visit the Spartans at Trinity Western on Friday, September 6th.  That has a 7:15 PM kickoff.  The next night (Saturday, September 7th), Thompson Rivers will meet the University of Fraser Valley Cascades on their home pitch at 7 pm.

Next home match for the WolfPack will be Friday, September 13th on the Warner Rentals field. It is the start of Alumni Weekend. On the Friday, the MacEwan University Griffins will be the opponents at 7:30 pm. It is also “Puppies and Pints” night which is sponsored by Petland.  There will be a special section for fans to sit and enjoy the match with their four legged friends. They can also enjoy a beer courtesy of Iron Road Brewing.

The Vikes will be home next weekend (Sept 6-7) meeting up with the UNBC Timberwolves.  Kick off both nights will be 7:15 pm.