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Unable to hold on to a first-round lead a week earlier, James Casorso made sure not to repeat his fizzle in PACWEST golf play at the Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club on the weekend.
As was the case at the Okanagan Golf Club the previous week, the UBC Okanagan representative put himself the position to challenge for a win by shooting a 2-under-par 70 on opening day at Westwood in Coquitlam. But unlike Week 2 of the season when he carded a 68 and then slipped to a 75, Casorso kept his composure in Week 3 to fire a 69 on Sunday and overtake Jacob Vanderpas of Langara College (68-73) for a two-stroke victory.
The win moved the Immaculata High School grad into a fourth-place overall tie with Matt Matheson of Camosun College after three tournaments (six rounds) with a 433 total and just five strokes back of Vanderpas, the aggregate leader. Dallas Jones of Vancouver Island University and Mac Keats of Camosun are tied for second with at 431.
Casorso’s win led UBCO to a second-place finish in the team competition with a four-man total of 593, two strokes back of Langara. Both Grant Dollevoet of Lake Country and Jacob Stewart of Calgary contributed to the UBCO total with rounds of 76 and 74 on the weekend. Naioki Takahashi finished with a 164 (86-78) total.
Meanwhile, in women’s play at Westwood, UBCO’s Lesiuk McKenna and Lauren Siemers tied for fourth place with 36-hole scores of 167. Lesiuk carded rounds of 83 and 84 while Siemers came in with 86 and 81. Both were 11 strokes off the pace set by winner Sharon Park of the University of the Fraser Valley.
Up next for the Heat golfers is a tournament at the Morningstar Golf course in Parksville Saturday and Sunday.
Heat women shutout twice in Canada West soccer
UBC Okanagan Heat women’s soccer team couldn’t score a goal on home field against a pair of the top teams in CIS Canada West on the weekend.
While the Heat — falling to 2-4 and into sixth place in Pacific Division — had few opportunities in a 3-0 loss to the No. 5-ranked Trinity Western Spartans (5-0-2) on Sunday, they did force University of the Fraser Valley Cascades goalkeeper Kayla Klim to earn her player-of-the-match designation on Saturday.
Trinity scored all three goals in the first half, while Spartans’ netminder, Ally Williamson, had to stop only two Heat shots on goal — by Ally Ferronato and Lindsey Berthelson.
Andrea Stinson was UBCO’s player of the match.
On Saturday, Fraser Valley (4-1-2) scored what would stand up as the winning goal in the 30th minute and added an insurance marker midway through the second.
The Heat, with Maya Bandy as their game MVP, had a number of good opportunities to break their scoreless streak early on when the team’s leading scorer, Courtney Hemmerling of Kelowna, broke free in the penalty area and put a low shot off the right post.
Hemmerling again came close in the late stages of the game, but was stopped by Klim on three glorious chances.
The Heat’s schedule doesn’t get much easier as they travel to Vancouver on Friday to take on the UBC Thunderbirds (2-1-4) while they’re in Victoria on Saturday to play the Vikes (3-1-3).
UBCO men manage just on point in Edmonton
The UBCO Heat’s two-game winning streak against Alberta teams came to an abrupt end on the weekend in Edmonton.
Up against the No. 2-rank (CIS) University of Alberta Golden Bears, the Heat were dropped a 3-1 decision on Saturday. The following day they played the MacEwan Griffins to a scoreless tie. UBCO went into the weekend having defeated both Calgary and Lethbridge in back-to-back games on Nonis Field in Kelowna.
Another outstanding performance by Ajeej Sarkaria kept the Bears undefeated in their first nine Canada West games. The rookie striker scored all three U of A goals, bringing his season total of 13. He’s now seven goals ahead of second-place Dominic Russo in that category.
Sarkaria scored the winning goal just six minutes into the match and added a second tally 11 minutes later. He rounded out the Alberta scoring in the 90th minute.
Third-year Bears keeper Connor James was forced to make five saves to earn his fifth shutout of the season. The Heat’s only goal came from rookie midfielder Nikhil Reddy in the 80th minute.
On Sunday, the Heat showed much more offensive thrust against MacEwan, forcing the Griffins’ Dylon Powley to make six saves on 10 shots at goal, but still came up empty.
Heat keeper Mitch McCaw made five saves at the other end of the pitch for his third clean sheet of the season. First-year midfelder, Corbin Beauchemin of Kelowna, was chosen at the Heat’s MVP in the match.
UBCO, now at 3-3-2 and in third place in the Pacific Division, is in Prince George for its next game on Saturday to take on the University of Northern B.C. Timberwolves (2-7-1). The two teams will play again on Sunday.
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