CALGARY – Katie French finished with a career-high 10 saves as the University of Calgary Dinos women's soccer team battled to a 1-1 draw with the Victoria Vikes Friday night from Dinosaur Field.

The tie is the first of the for Calgary, moving to 4-2-1 overall on the season, while the Vikes now sit at 2-4-2 overall.

The score may have been 0-0 at halftime, but that wasn't for a lack of effort, with both keepers making a number of high-pressure saves – highlighted by Kayley Lidstone's diving effort to keep Emily Yamaguchi-Kuan's blast from distance from reaching the back of the net in the 35th minute.

The Vikes finally broke the deadline as Trinity Kettyls scored the first goal of the game on a blast from the far side that floated into the side netting to make it 1-0 at the 48:52 mark.

After the Vikes got on the board, the Dinos took control over the game. Ella Djuranic rattled the post with a shot less than one minute after the Vikes goal to nearly create the instant equalizer. 

In the 61st minute, Isabella DiPalma fired a shot that deflected off a Victoria defender and pinged off the crossbar as the Dinos attack was swarming the Victoria box in pursuit of a goal.
 
Calgary finally broke through in the 70th minute as Grace Moore scored the game tying goal for the Dinos. Mykena Walker sent a great ball into the box from the wing where Moore was waiting. The Calgary native took a touch, let her defender fly by and blasted a shot the caromed off the crossbar and down across the line to make it 1-1 with 20 minutes to play.

Both goalies continued to shine to prevent any further tallies on the scoresheet in this one despite a total of 25 shots on goal combined by both teams. French finished with her 10 saves overall, while Vikes' goalie Kayley Lidstone finished with 11 saves, bringing her total to 56 saves this season. 

"The last 30 minutes of the second half were good; full of energy," French said after the game. "We came back for it. It's too bad we couldn't buy a goal after hitting a few crossbars and posts."

The Vikes will face off against the UNBC Timberwolves on Sunday in Prince George at 2:15 p.m., while the Dinos will host top-ranked UBC Sunday at noon from Dinosaur Field.

-UC-