CALGARY – A second period goal from the University of Calgary's captain, Rebecca Clarke was the lone marker for the Dinos in a 6-1 loss against the Trinity Western Spartans Friday night at Father David Bauer Arena.

With an almost scoreless first period, a quick succession of three Dinos penalties at the end of the first period would go to give the Spartans a lengthy man advantage. The Dinos special team proved effective for the two offsetting five-on-three penalty kills before the Spartans broke down the Dinos defense, striking at the 19:23 mark. Chayce Kullman put the puck on Dinos' goaltender Amelia Awad, before Jordyn Matthews cleaned up the rebound and lit the lamp.

A goal heavy second period would start with the Spartans tripling their lead with two goals just 43 seconds apart. It started eight and a half minutes in the middle frame, when Kyra McDonald snuck one through Awad's glove side. She was quickly succeeded by Matthews' second goal of the night, jamming home a wild puck in the crease. The Dinos finally broke through TWU goaltender Kate Fawcett with a goal from their captain. Rebecca Clarke squeaked one through Fawcett's five-hole to put up the Dinos' first marker, thanks to a net-front pass from Jolie Nafziger. However, it wasn't long before the Spartans regained their three-goal lead a minute later, as MacDonald doubled her goal count, closing out a 4-1 period in favour of the Spartans. 

The final period of play had the Dinos working hard, but ultimately falling 6-1, as the Spartans managed to add two more tallies to their score sheet. Olivia Leier received the puck up the middle of the ice behind Calgary defense, leading her to a one-on-one match against Awad before the Dinos swapped goaltenders. Charlotte Swanton scored the final goal of this one.

"Our group cares," Calgary head coach Josh Gosling said. "They're working hard, getting in shot lanes, doing everything they can on our penalty kill, and that's a good example that we have a foundation to build off of."

"I think at the end of the day, it's an evaluation. We've got to evaluate our current players and our younger players, and all our players need to learn. We'll give them some opportunities and we'll keep fighting."

Both teams will return to Father David Bauer Arena on Saturday for a rematch at 2 p.m.

-UC-