It was a carbon copy of Friday night; the UNBC Timberwolves possessed the ball, created opportunities, fell behind by two goals, got one back, and ran out of time, falling 2-1 to the TRU WolfPack on Saturday.
Just six minutes in, the WolfPack got on the board. TRU leading scorer Ryan Lewis gathered the ball 30 yards out, turned, and fired a rocket off the crossbar and in, fooling UNBC goalkeeper Daniel Zadravec. The goal marked the fifth of the campaign for Lewis, putting him second in the conference.
The Timberwolves would respond with pressure at the other end, creating trouble for the TRU defenders, but couldn’t get on the end of a number of threatening looks. UNBC possessed much of the remainder of the half, and nearly found the equalizer in the 35th minute off the foot of Koby Greaves. The freshman from Victoria gathered a Michael Henman pass in the box, and beat TRU keeper Jackson Gardner, but rang the ball off the right post and out.
A much-disputed foul was called on the Timberwolves in minute 37, leading to a free kick for Marco Favaro. The veteran found Elijah Dos Santos in the box, who deposited it past Zadravec for the first of his Canada West career.
Late in the half, a foul was called, the TWolves put the ball down, slid it to Henman, who beat a diving Gardner. However, the official ruled it would instead be a free kick from inside the box, to the confusion of most. UNBC was unable to convert on the unusual opportunity and had to settle for a 2-0 deficit after 45 minutes.
In minute 53, the Timberwolves found the goal they were looking for from a familiar source. A Koby Greaves free kick found Cody Gysbers back post, who tapped it towards Henman in the box. The striker made no mistake, tapping it in for his eighth of the season, drawing the Timberwolves to within one.
In the 79th minute Henman was sprung on a break into the box, doing well to beat his man wide and send it into a high-danger area, but it was cleared out of harm’s way by a TRU defender tracking back to his own third.
Eventually, the Timberwolves ran out of time, falling 2-1 to the Pack in a spirited game that felt on the verge of chippy for much of the 90 minutes.
The final shots on goal were 6-4 in favour of Thompson Rivers, though the Timberwolves justifiably felt like they deserved at least a point.
With the win, TRU improves to 5-1-0, while UNBC falls to 2-3-1 on the season.