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TWU soccer: Spartans push unbeaten streak to six games

Late goal costs Trinity Western men's soccer team chance at full six points
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Trinity Western Spartans striker Spencer Schmidt gets his head on the ball against the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Saturday. Schmidt scored a goal in both weekend games for Trinity Western, a 1-1 draw against Calgary and a 3-0 win over Lethbridge.

The Trinity Western Spartans continued to roll, picking up four of a possible six points while extending their unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2).

The Spartans men's soccer team played to a 1-1 draw with the 10th ranked Calgary Dinos on Friday and then scored a 3-0 victory over the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Saturday.

Both games were at Rogers Park on the TWU campus.

"We had timely goals and a little bit more composure on the ball tonight," said Spartans coach Pat Rohla following the Saturday victory.

"I thought we were pretty good but there's still a lot to work on.

"We changed our formation a bit and I thought Brayden Gant and Jordan Whitehead in the middle of the park were fantastic.

"It allowed Ioannis (Tsoulouhas) and Spencer (Schmidt) to show and keep balls and it allowed the outside of the pitch to open up for us."

Against Lethbridge, Schmidt opened the scoring in the seventh minute when he capitalized on a turnover and blasted the ball past keeper Colin Pattison.

Goran Vitic doubled the lead in the 39th minute, taking a pass from Gant and whipping it into the bottom corner of the goal.

Garrett Peters scored in second half injury time to complete the scoring.

Goalkeeper Andrew Fink earned his third shutout, making four saves in the victory.

The Spartans were just over a minute away from knocking off the conference-leading Dinos the night before.

Scott Stewart/TWU Athletics

Trinity Western prepares to defend a free kick against the Calgary Dinos.

Schmidt opened the scoring in the 78th minute, but Calgary notched the equalizer in injury time with Lane Forsyth buried a loose ball off a corner kick past Fink.

The Spartans controlled the match as they had 16 shots compared to Calgary's seven and 10 corners compared to the Dinos' two.

"As much as territorial play was hugely in our favour, our guys are afraid to step up and score goals in the right moments," Rohla said.

"I mean Spencer had a great goal and a timely goal and we thought it was enough but we out-chanced that team and had five glorious chances to none really and we gifted them that goal at the end.

"You can say that's how the cookie crumbles but you have to go out and earn it for 93 minutes and not play 89 minutes and think that's good enough."

The Spartans have just one game this weekend, on Friday at UBC.

The Thunderbirds are ranked second in the country and lead the Canada West conference with a 4-0-3 record and 15 points, one ahead of second-place Trinity Western (4-1-2).