This Week: vs. Victoria (3-1-2), Fri. Oct 8; vs. UFV (3-3-0), Sat. Oct 9; 5:00 p.m. at Thunderbird Park
A look at the T-Birds
Last week the Thunderbirds rebounded from a somewhat surprising loss to Fraser Valley with a convincing 3-0 win over the previously unbeaten Victoria Vikes. The T-Birds exploded for all three goals in the last 15 minutes of play, as
Lisa Furutani found the back of the net twice and striker
Janine Frazao got her team-leading seventh of the year.
The T-Birds offence ranks third in the league with an average of just under two goals-per-game. Frazao accounts for almost half of the team's goal total by herself, while Furutani has three goals to put her second on the team scoring list.
Natalie Hirayama looks to be due for a few more goals to her credit, as she is second only to Frazao with 13 shots on goal this year, but has just one tally to show for it. It's only a matter of time before a few more of her attempts find the mark.
Defensively, the T-Birds are just as good. They have allowed just six goals through eight games, and only the unbeaten Alberta Pandas have allowed fewer. Regular goalkeeper
Meghan Best has three shutouts on the year, and
Leah Peric picked up where she left off last week, as she got her first start of the year and a shutout of her own while Best was out with an injury.
A look at the Cascades
After suffering through a tough 1-3 start to their season, the Cascades picked up two huge wins last week over two of Canada West's best teams in UBC and Trinity Western. That got them back to .500 at 3-3 on the year, and with two games in-hand over the rest of the league, they are in position to threaten teams near the top of the conference standings.
Some credit for their 2-1 win over Trinity Western has to go to goalkeeper Chantelle Biagioni, who made 12 saves on the night to give her side the win despite being outshot. Overall, Biagioni and the Cascades defence have been solid this season, ranking just behind UBC with seven goals allowed. Offence has been much harder to come by than good defence, as the Cascades have just six goals on the year and no player has more than one. They only manage about five shots on goal each game, though they did record 20 last weekend against two tough defences in addition to picking up four of their six goals, so things appear to be headed in the right direction.
A look at the Vikes
The Vikes suffered their first loss of the year last week to the T-Birds, and they have no time to dwell on it as they now find themselves falling behind in the standings at 2-1-3 on the year. Their defence had been extremely tough until last weekend, as they had not allowed more than one goal in a game until UBC put up three. Still, their seven goals-against puts them tied with the Cascades for third best in the conference.
Also like the Cascades, the Vikes have struggled offensively this year. They have only scored more than one goal once this season, and are dead last in the league with just 21 shots on goal - less than four per game. The defence has done a good enough job in limiting their opponents' offence to keep the Vikes in games this season, but ties will only take you so far in the Canada West, and they need to start turning some of those efforts into wins if they want to climb up the standings. Jaclyn Sawicki and Kaitlin Hunter are tied for the team lead with two goals each.
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