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University of Calgary Athletics

Joe Long
Rob Hislop

Frustrating season ends in 2-2 draw

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EDMONTON - A goal in injury time by the University of Calgary Dinos forced a 2-2 tie with the University of Alberta Golden Bears, leaving the Bears fourth in the Canada West standings to end the regular season.

The Bears would have preferred a victory to vault over the third-place Trinity Western Spartans, but the Dinos will certainly revel in this result over their provincial rivals since they will finish seventh and out of playoff contention.

Crucial to the tie were the last-minute efforts of Calgary midfielder David Bird who first made a brilliant header towards the Alberta goal, but he was bested by an agile save by Bears keeper Steven Reid.  Bird rushed to take the resulting corner and sifted a ball towards the goal crease to have fellow midfielder Sean Makins convert his own header to even the score.

The Bears opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Alberta speedster Ammon Hoefs made another patented run down the side of the field and got a clean pass to the middle where first-year forward Justin Derkach roofed the ball past Calgary netminder #J.P. Crescenzi#.

Five minutes later, Hoefs got held up in the penalty box, provoking a penalty kick taken by fifth-year midfielder Daniel Nielsen.  The veteran made no mistake by shooting the ball to the lower left corner.

Calgary got one back at the 38th minute, however, when forward Alex Hanne cut inside to the middle to kick a quick shot just under the crossbar.

Before Bird's second-half heroics, the game became mired in a consistent issuance of yellow and red cards to multiple players among many warnings of further cards.  Six different players on the field were issued the six yellow and two red cards.

Calgary finishes the season a disappointing 2-8-4, missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

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