NU Eagles Fall to Kwantlen in Season Opener

8/21/2015 9:05:27 PM

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Heavy Friday traffic held up the arrival of the Northwest University women’s soccer team, and then it was Kwantlen Polytechnic’s defense which held NU to 8 shots on their way to a 4-2 victory over the No. 20 Eagles this afternoon on the pitch on Ken Woods Field

Kyle Garrison got Northwest U off to a good start and the lead in the sixth minute as she scored her first goal of the 2015 season off a cross by teammate Jessie Nicholl. But, the Eagles would not see the goal net for 84 minutes as the Kwantlen Eagles scored four straight goals.

Hayley Eburne took Shayla Wilson’s pass to score at the 10:49 mark to tie the score at 1-1 and Megan Talaber put the KPU Eagles up 2-1 and for good with her unassisted goal in the 27’. KPU would take the 2-1 lead into halftime and it would take just five minutes into the second half for Chelsea Lai to score unassisted the first of her two goals in the 50^th minute to increase the KPU lead to 3-1. Lai then put the capper on the win in at the 88:05 mark, as she took a through ball from Rachel Gledstone and dribbled around NU’s keeper, Patefield, for the score.

Kwantlen’s defense held Northwest U to just eight shots for the game, two shots on goal, while the Eagles from Surrey, B.C., had 19 shots, eight shots on goal.

Tiffany Taylor finally got Northwest U on the scoreboard again with 20 seconds left in regulation, scoring unassisted off a misplayed ball by KPU’s keeper to make it a 4-2 game as time would expire.

Northwest U’s (0-1) goalkeeper, Lauren Patefield made eight saves for the Eagles while Tiffany Taylor led NU with four shots.

Kwantlen’s Chantalle Bracken (59:52) and Joscelyn Wallace (30:08) shared time in goal for the Eagles with no saves. Chelsea Lai led KPU with five shots, three shots on goal while teammate Megan Talaber had five shots, one shot on goal.

NU will return to the UBC campus Sunday to take on host, University of British Columbia, at 2:30 p.m.