Huskers Drop 3-2 Decision to Canadian U-20s

Lincoln - Brittany Timko scored a pair of first-half goals, but the Nebraska soccer team was unable to hold on to its early lead in a 3-2 loss to the Canadian Under-20 National Team on Saturday at Ed Weir Stadium.

Timko, who led the Huskers in scoring a year ago, scored the game's first goal in the first five minutes to give Nebraska a quick 1-0 lead on its first shot of the game.  Midway through the first half, Timko added her second goal of the game, racing down the left side of the field one-on-one with a Canadian defender before firing a shot past the goalkeeper into the far corner to give NU a 2-0 lead.

Nebraska outshot the Canadians 9-3 in the first half and held a 2-0 advantage in the scoring column at intermission.  

But the Canadians gained momentum at the start of the second half and began to control the flow of play.  Future Husker Aysha Jamani entered the game midway through the second half after sitting out the entire first half for the Canadian club and immediately turned the pressure up a notch on the Huskers.

Jamani got off two quick shots to soften the Husker defense, before the Canadians finally broke through on Jodi-Ann Robinson's goal to cut the NU lead to 2-1.  Minutes later, Natalie Martineau collected a goal to tie the score, before Robinson added the game-winner with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest.

The Huskers tried to battle back and had several scoring opportunities late, including a shot on a goal in the closing minutes from Sasha Andrews that was wrapped up by U-20 goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe just before it trickled across the goal line.

Nebraska outshot the Canadians 13-10 on the afternoon, but the Canadians controlled the action with a 7-4 advantage in the second half.  The Huskers had seven shots on goal, compared to five for the U-20 club.

Despite the loss to close the spring season, Nebraska Coach John Walker was pleased with the Huskers' progress throughout their spring exhibition schedule.

"We have shown a lot of improvement across the board," Walker said. "We have improved in every game, maybe more than any other team I have coached during the spring, until today.  We have really had a good spring, we just didn't play that well in the last half of the spring game.  But overall, I am very encouraged about the progress the team has made."