Senior midfielder Stepahnie Badilla Gutierrez scored on a cracker of a shot off a free kick from about 25 yards out just nine minutes into the game, curling the ball just inside the near post for the only goal of the game.
Third-year keeper Puck Louwes earned her conference-leading eighth clean sheet of the season as the No. 6 Vikes improved to a healthy 8-1-3 on the Canada West season, behind the 10-2 Trinity Western Spartans in the Pacific Division. The No. 8 Pandas slipped to 8-2-2 in the Prairie Division.
UVic returns home to face the Spartans and Fraser Valley Cascades at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to end the regular-season campaign. The Vikes have already clinched a post-season berth.
It’s a much different situation in men’s play where the Vikes dropped a 2-1 decision to the visiting Thompson River WolfPack on Saturday night to fall to 5-7-1, on the outside looking in at playoffs.
The WolfPack sank their teeth into the Vikes with a pair of second-half goals from Ryan Glanville and Mitch Popadynetz. Isaac Koch tallied the lone UVic marker in between the two visiors’ strikes.
“We are disappointed with the result. I thought we played very well in the first half,” Vikes head coach Bruce Wilson said after his team was outshot 15-4 overall. “Our defending on the second goal was not good at all and they capitalized. We pushed forward at the end and were a little bit unlucky not to score, but full credit to TRU, they deserved to win.”
The Spartans improve to 5-3-5 on the season with the rare win at Centennial Stadium.
“It’s our first win as a program in Victoria. It’s always a tough place to come play,” said WolfPack head coach John Antulov. “These last couple of games have playoff implications, so for us to get the three points was huge.”
With the result being the final home game for the Vikes, the team paid tribute to graduating players Tarnvir Bhandal, Dorian Colopisis, Paulo Dait and Nick Pineda Graham.
UVic will conclude the regular-season this weekend on the road against the Fraser Valley Cascades (4-6-3) and Trinity Western Spartans (6-4-4).
ON THE TEE: The Vikes golf teams are hosting the annual Vikes Shootout at Cordova Bay Golf Course this week. After Monday’s opening round, the UVic women were leading the field, 18 strokes ahead of second-place Arizona Christian and Corban University of Salem, Oregon. The UVic men are also in top spot after one round, 10 shots up on second-place UBC. The final round goes today.
mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com
Twitter.com/tc_vicsports
