Playing with only 10 men for most of the match, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s soccer team bounced back into the win column with a 3-0 victory over the visiting University of Northern British Columbia Timberwolves at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops on Sept. 11.
Williams Lake’s Ryan Glanville first scored in the 40th minute on a shot down the left side for his third goal of the year and of the weekend to put TRU up 1-0.
In the 60th minute he notched his fourth of the season and second of the match on a brilliant individual effort. He stole the ball and chipped it high over UNBC keeper Mitch McFarlane into the centre of the net.
On going down to 10 players, Glanville said the team battled through.
“No team wants to go down to that,” he said. “We are confident and gutsy. Hopefully today’s effort shows we can do that.
“We were confident we had the players and the personnel to come out with a result. We capitalized on our chances today. Some weeks we haven’t. Hopefully this is the sign of things to come.”
With the win the WolfPack improved to two wins and four losses on the campaign, which followed a 3-2 setback to the Timberwolves just a day prior.
Of note, Glanville was awarded the TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack Players of the Match for the second straight game.
He gave his souvenir T-shirt to his dad, Clark, who attends every WolfPack game both home and away.
For his efforts, Glanville — a fourth-year forward with the WolfPack — was named Canada West male second star of the week.
Glanville had four goals in two matches against the UNBC Timberwolves.
The Canada West second team all-star from last year and CIS academic all Canadian had four of his team’s five goals in a split with UNBC.
“Full credit to TRU but, really, Glanville is the man of the day,” UNBC coach Steve Simonson said after the match Sunday. “He stole the game for them from us.”
Glanville, a 31-year-old father of two, and the WolfPack continue their homestand next weekend, Sept. 17-18, hosting Lethbridge and Calgary at Hillside Stadium.