Brent Mutis
CapU Blues sports info
A bounce here and deflection there, and it may have been a very different homestand.
The Capilano Blues held a late lead Saturday hosting Vancouver Island University but the visiting Mariners tallied in the 79th minute to pull out a tie, the second draw in a row for the two teams in head-to-head games hosted by CapU.
On Sunday, the Douglas College Royals scored early in the both the first and second half and secured a 2-0 road win. Capilano pushed back into Royals territory after conceding the early goal and had several chances to score but couldn’t finish.
A trio of first-half corner kicks, all within the space of six minutes, were delivered beautifully by Michael Salvino but one redirection went off the crossbar and Douglas defenders got in the way of the other Blues attempt to punch one home. Corners ended up 7-1 in favour of the Blues, including two second-half efforts from Kai Belbin which were similarly stymied.
Rachel Laakmann made her first PACWEST start in net for the Blues Sunday and ended up with four saves.
Saturday’s date with the Mariners saw the game scoreless well into the second half when Mariners keeper Kaiden Thorpe was issued a red card for an aggressive tackle. Backup Brooke Ingram was pressed into service and less than two minutes into her assignment, Capilano’s Sasha Faris, with the second goal of her rookie campaign, put the Blues ahead.
The lead held up for only 12 minutes when Mariners sniper Jade Dillabough equalized, the only shot out of nine on net to beat Amaya Salvino.
Capilano now sits at 1-3-2, third in the PACWEST standings. An important home-and-home weekend is ahead against Langara with Saturday’s game a Noon start at the Falcons park in Langley while Sunday’s game gets going at Noon at CapU’s Lillooet Park.
