LANGLEY, B.C. – The University of Calgary Dinos fought hard in tough conditions on the road in their Canada West quarter-final Saturday night, eventually falling in heartbreaking fashion in penalty kicks to the Trinity Western Spartans.
The loss ends the Dinos' season, while TWU advances to the Canada West Final Four next weekend at UBC.
Trinity Western second-year goalie Sebastian Colyn made a brilliant diving on the Dinos' fifth and final shooter,
Jared Fillo, to give the Spartans the 4-3 edge in the shootout after
Cristiano De Carvalho, Dominik Zuzcek, and
Dondre Bailey each converted their opportunities from the spot.
Jake Ruschkowski made one save in the five penalties.
TWU defender Vaggeli Boucasinitially put the Spartans ahead 1-0 in the 65th minute before Bohdan equalized in the 82nd minute. The Spartans finished the night with an 8-2 edge in shots on goal and a 19-7 advantage in total shots.
Colyn made one save over the 120-minute match to earn the win, while Calgary's
Jake Ruschkowski stopped seven of the shots he faced.
A tightly contested first half saw several half chances from the Spartans, but little from either squad in terms of top-drawer opportunities.
Holding possession and keeping pressure on the Dinos, the Spartans broke through when Boucas got his head to a Joel Waterman offering, glancing it past Ruschkowski to open the scoring.
TWU nearly doubled its lead in the 69th minute, but a shot on target from the Spartans Aidan Moore saw Ruschkowski come up with a critical save. Pressing for the tying marker, Bohdan took a ball from
Bryce Connors and slammed it home on the short side, beating Colyn to his left.
That setup a scoreless overtime, which ultimately paved the way for penalty kicks.
Through the first four shooters, the teams remained tied, with Bohdan's high attempt and a Ruschkowski save on TWU's Jacob Low being the only misses. After the Spartans' Cody Fransen put TWU ahead 4-3 on penalties, Colyn guessed right, diving to his left to secure the victory.
"Not easy for the boys going out on penalties," tweeted Dinos Head Coach
Brendan O'Connell after the match. "So proud of the effort they put into balancing their academic life with competitive soccer. They left it all out on the field."
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