Point Taken in Week 3

Plenty of shots in a road tie & loss in Week 3.

Saturday, October 2: VIU Mariners 2, Langara Falcons 2

BURNABY, B.C. – Two goals from Nanaimo midfielder Cara Dunlop paced the Mariners to a 2-2 tie in their first road game of the 2021 PACWEST season.

Dunlop opened the scoring with a 15th-minute tap-in after being left alone in front of the Falcons net. Two defenders went to chase Shea Battie, who was breaking down the left side, and Battie fed a perfect pass through that was just out of the reach of Falcons goalkeeper Alyssa Narayan.

VIU's second goal came on a 35th minute penalty kick, drawn after Mariner forward Jordan King raced past the Falcons defence onto a slow back pass and was knocked down by Narayan in the 18-yard box. Dunlop calmly placed her shot in the lower-right corner of the net and the Mariners led 2-0 at the half. 

The Falcons responded in the second half with a 50th-minute PK from Nadia Bigiolli and a long-range 61st-minute free kick from Rachel Barker.  

The Mariners out-shot the Falcons 19-6 (11-4 shots on target) with VIU forward Justine McMahon topping the list with six shot attempts (three on target). VIU goalkeeper Melanie Osborne was credited with two saves as the tie maintained a three-point gap in the standings between the Mariners and Falcons.

Sunday, October 3: Douglas Royals 2, VIU Mariners 0

COQUITLAM, B.C. – The Douglas Royals scored a goal in each half to defeat the visitors from VIU 2-0 at Cunnings Field.

Both Royals goals came after taking advantage of wayward back-passes, with first-year Royals Christine Singh (19th minute) and Amanda Hila (75th minute) making the most of their clear opportunities on Osborne's net.

The Mariners had some solid attempts on goal in the first half, including a strike from Kate Reynolds at the top of the 18-yard box that required a leaping save from the Royals goalkeeper.

Most of the final 25 minutes of the game was spent in the Royals half, but the Mariners couldn't break through with many dangerous chances in an attempt to get on the scoreboard.

Up Next

With four games remaining in the 2021 PACWEST regular season, the Mariners sit in third place in the conference with a 1-3-1 record—three points ahead of Langara and nine points behind the Blues and Royals. The top three teams in the conference advance to the PACWEST provincial championships.

Next weekend, PACWEST soccer takes a break for Thanksgiving. The Mariners return to the pitch for a road game versus the Capilano Blues on Saturday, October 16th (1 PM kickoff).

The next day, the Mariners play their final home game of the season at Merle Logan Turf Field (Beban Park) versus the Langara Falcons (12 PM kickoff).

Games are streamed live at PACWEST.TV.