A chance to take sole possession of second place in the PacWest women’s soccer league slipped away from the Kwantlen Eagles Sunday afternoon on their home pitch.
The Eagles fell 2-1 to the Quest University Kermodes at Newton Athletic Park, a result that left both teams knotted in the runner-up position with 3-1-2 (won-tied-lost) records. A Kwantlen win would have left the team alone in second place, four points ahead of third place.
Quest won the battle for ball possession in the first half, but didn’t get a goal until injury time for a 1-0 lead at the break.
Kwantlen drew even in the first minute of the second half, with Queen Elizabeth Secondary graduate Harveer Rai netting her first goal of the season.
The Kermodes netted the winner in the 61st minute, then turned aside a number of Kwantlen scoring chances to hang on for the win.
The loss left the Eagles with a split of their first two home games of the season. Kwantlen blanked the Langara Falcons 3-0 Saturday, also in Newton.
Dominique Lang of Langley opened the scoring, slamming home a rebound off a Shanay Sangha shot 20 minutes into the contest.
Sangha earned her second assist of the game early in the second half, passing to Lang for the game’s second goal. Sangha netted a goal herself to close out the scoring.
Rookie net minder Sukhleen Gill, an L.A. Matheson Secondary graduate, earned her third shutout of the season in the Kwantlen goal.
“After the third weekend of play, I am very impressed with the quality of play and efforts of all the teams we have matched up against thus far,” said Kwantlen head coach Donn Sparks. “This is a clear sign that, on any given weekend, we will have strong competition.”
Kwantlen has faced six of their seven opponents in PacWest play this season, the Douglas College Royals the only team they have yet to play. The Eagles and Douglas will play twice next weekend, hosting the Royals Saturday at noon at Newton Athletic Park before a rematch Sunday in Coquitlam at 1 p.m.
n Kwantlen’s men’s team finds itself in third place after six games, following a pair of wins during their first weekend at home.
The Eagles fell behind after a half-hour of play Saturday against Langara, but scored three times in the second half for a 3-1 win.
Holy Cross High School graduate Dalton San tied the game in the 68th minute on his first touch of the ball after coming in as a substitute.
Marco Teodoro da Silbva finished a cross from Rylan Sangha in the 78th minute for the winning goal. Jacob Starheim of North Delta finished the scoring with just minutes to play.
Sunday against Quest, Starheim notched the games only goal late in the first half, and rookie netminder Kyle Nairn got the shutout in a 1-0 Kwantlen win.
“It was a great weekend for us,” said head coach Ajit Braich. “Constant consistency brought us back into the game against Langara, and Sunday proved to be a true team performance from the guys with an incredible debut from Nairn.”
One of three unbeaten teams with three wins and three draws in six games, the Eagles trail the Douglas College Royals and Vancouver Island Mariners by two points.
Kwantlen and the Royals play twice next weekend, at 2 p.m. Saturday in Newton, and 3 p.m. Sunday in Coquitlam.