VANCOUVER - The Calgary Dinos salvaged a crucial point in their weekend series with the UBC Thunderbirds on Sunday, playing the 'Birds to a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Wright Field.
The teams got all the offence out of the way in a hurry on Sunday, as both goals occured in the first five minutes of play. The T-Birds got on the board first when Vickie Pearson scored her team-leading sixth goal of the year off a penalty corner in the third minute. The Dinos responded just one minute later when pressure around the UBC net eventually led to a Calgary penalty stroke. Kaitlyn Longworth stepped up to the spot and slotted the ball just inside the left post to pull her side level.
"We got outhustled and the players know that, but at the same time we outplayed them," said UBC head coach Hash Kanjee. "We just didn't finish our chances. We had lots of corners but couldn't make them work, so we have only ourselves to blame."
The T-Birds survived a few defensive breakdowns in the first half before turning things around in the second. They generated most of the offensive chances after the break, and had a numbers advantage for five minutes due to a yellow card to Calgary's Emma Guppy, but were still unable to break the deadlock.
"We made it harder on ourselves than we needed to," Kanjee said. "The first half wasn't so good, and the second half was better so we will take the tie. We should have taken our chances better and that was the difference."
The Dinos gave the 'Birds a scare as time expired, winning back-to-back penalty corner opportunities as the buzzer sounded. They couldn't capitalize on either chance though, and the home side escaped with the tie.
The T-Birds now fall into a tie for first with Victoria at 5-1-2 on the year. The tie was huge for Calgary, as a loss would have been devastating to their CIS tournament hopes. At 3-3-2, the Dinos now face a pivotal series in Victoria against the Vikes next week, as they could pull themselves into a tie for second in the conference if they win both games. Only the top two teams from Canada West will make the trip to nationals, so they need a strong showing in Victoria to keep their hopes alive.
The T-Birds will head to Edmonton next week to take on the winless Alberta Pandas before finishing off the regular season at home against the Vikes.
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