In a match-up of Canada West women’s soccer powerhouses, it was the Trinity Western Spartans delivering the knockout punch.
The Spartans scored a dozen goals in two games the previous weekend while the UBC Thunderbirds were good for nine goals in their pair of victories.
But it was Trinity Western which came through with a 3-0 victory over the visiting Thunderbirds on Saturday at Rogers Field on the TWU campus.
The Spartans improved to 3-0-0 while UBC fell to 2-1-0.
Both entered the game in the top 10 polls nationally, with Trinity Western ranked third and UBC eighth.
“I’m really pleased because they’re a good team and obviously it’s a great rivalry,” said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh. “I thought both teams started with some jitters but we settled down after about 10 minutes and started moving the ball and I was really pleased with our ball possession. I thought we were full value tonight. It’s a good step forward for us and I’m happy we took our chances.
“Our passing was excellent tonight. I thought our midfield settled down and we were all firing tonight. We’ll take it as a good step forward. We have lots of work to do, but you can’t fault our kids. They were excellent tonight. We knew tonight was a big game and we responded.”
In the 24th minute, the Spartans Jenna Di Nunzio broke down the left wing, beat her defender and slipped a low pass into the middle of the six-yard box that found an unmarked Boyd just feet from the goal line. The Trinity Western midfielder easily converted her first of the season into a gaping net.
With a 1-0 lead, Trinity Western pushed for more offence and 13 minutes later Gommeringer notched her fifth goal of the season to double the Spartans advantage.
Trinity Western’s leading striker, just inside the six-yard box, took a pass from Jilian Dietrich off the right flank and whipped a shot to the top corner that beat Williamson clean.
The Thunderbirds applied pressure late in the first half but ultimately were unable to get a shot on target in the entire first half.
In the second half, it was more of the same as Trinity Western continued to maintain possession and earn quality attempts on goal.
In the 65th minute, the Spartans potted their third goal of the game when Webber ripped a brilliant quickly-taken free kick from beyond 40 yards to the top left corner that deflected off the fingertips of Williamson and into the back of the net for the centre-back’s first marker of the season.
Kristen Funk made three saves for the shutout, her second in three games.
In the UBC goal, Langley’s Alyssa Williamson made three saves.
The Spartans are on the road this weekend for a pair of games against Manitoba (2-2-0) on Saturday and Winnipeg (0-3-1) on Sunday.