CALGARY – Another strong effort from the Calgary Dinos went rewarded on Sunday as a late goal from fifth year midfielder Lauren Ramos vaulted the Dinos to a 1-0 victory over the powerful Victoria Vikes. This marks the third straight year the Dinos have beaten the Vikes on the West Varsity Soccer Pitch.
Ramos, who was playing his last game in front of a Calgary crowd, certainly left his mark on the West Varsity Pitch. Taking a Tanmeet Singh corner kick in the 80th minute, Ramos bounced it in off his knee, fooling Victoria goaltender Dan Kilpatrick.
Ramos and fellow graduating midfielder Carlos Cruz were honoured for their valuable contributions to Dinos soccer in a pre-game ceremony.
Calgary head coach Andy Gibbs was happy for his team who were finally rewarded in a tough battle.
“It was the exact same effort as yesterday (against UBC) but this time we scored. It was very nice to see Ramos get the winner in his last game,” said Gibbs. “With this young team of student-athletes, it's been a longer maturation process than usual, and I think we saw this weekend that the work is finally paying off.”
After a surprising 0-0 tie with the UBC T-Birds, Calgary got another great effort from their goalkeeper #J.P. Crescenzi#, who got the shutout. The Dinos were also aided from solid play from Jeremy Jenkyns. Jenkyns, who usually finds himself in the starting lineup, came in off the bench in the second half and sparked the late Dinos rush with spirited play on the front line.
The Vikes, who are currently ranked third in the country, quickly found themselves in another tight matchup with an unranked opponent after a scoreless tie with Lethbridge on Saturday. In a game where they struggled to find any offensive rhythm, the Vikes were shutout again, and will almost surely drop a few spots in the next national rankings. In the loss, Victoria got solid efforts from their goalkeeper Kilpatrick as well as from hard-working midfielder Sam Wingham.
The Vikes will cap off the season with one game next weekend against their archrivals, the UBC Thunderbirds. The T-Birds, who tied Calgary yesterday, beat the Lethbridge Pronghorns 1-0 on Sunday, and now own the tie-breaker with the Vikes. Victoria will have to beat UBC by at least two goals to take the conference championship.
The Dinos, who were out of the Canada West playoff picture as of yesterday, will go up to Edmonton next weekend with hopes of spoiling the playoff hopes of the Alberta Golden Bears and the Saskatchewan Huskies.
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