CALGARY – Playing a rare Monday afternoon match, the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades played a little rope-a-dope and took full advantage of their opportunities in a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Dinos on the turf at McMahon Stadium.

BOX SCORE

The Dinos, who carried the majority of the play throughout the afternoon, fall to 4-6-2 on the season and need a miracle to qualify for the playoffs, while the Cascades improve to 4-7-2 despite having already been eliminated from post-season contention.

Despite outshooting the Cascades by a 20-13 margin and holding a significant edge in corner kicks at 11-3, the Dinos couldn't convert on their offensive opportunities, sending several good chances sailing through the football uprights over the crossbar. The Cascades, conversely, scored their first goal off a deep free kick, their second off a Calgary defensive miscue, and their third courtesy a Dinos own goal.

UFV's Devin Gilroy opened the scoring in the 21st minute with a perfect header finish to a perfect cross off the foot of Ethan Claibourne-Collins, who took a free kick off to the side of the Calgary goal.

Just under 20 minutes later, Calgary's Ben Cole evened the affair when David Bird found him alone in front of the Fraser Valley cage. Cole took one step to his right and fed the ball past Cascades 'keeper Mark Village to knot it up at 1-1 in the 39th minute.

Late in the opening half, Fraser Valley almost made it 2-1 when Milan Francisty went in alone with Dinos netminder #J.P. Crescenzi# down and out, but his shot curved to the right and off the post.

Cory Sim scored the winner for the Cascades in the 59th minute when a goal kick by Village bounced behind both Calgary defenders in the Dinos' area. Sim was Johnny-on-the-spot, sending a shot into Crescenzi, who made the initial save. The rebound bounced right back to Sim, who slipped it into the open cage.

Fraser Valley's insurance marker came in the 90th minute on an oddly similar play when another goal kick by Village sailed into the Calgary penalty area. Crescenzi called for the ball and the defender headed it to him, but the header missed the mark and rolled into the corner of the net when Crescenzi couldn't catch up with it.

The Dinos head into the final weekend of the season with 14 points, five back of the fourth-place Alberta Golden Bears with two games left. In order to qualify for the post-season, Calgary needs Alberta to lose both ends of a home-and-home series with the Saskatchewan Huskies, while the Dinos also need to win both of their final games. That will be a tall order, as the top two teams in the conference, UBC and Trinity Western, set to invade the West Varsity Soccer Pitch next weekend.

-UC-