Canada West championships: 2016
Conference record: 15-5-8
Canada West playoff record: 7-1
U SPORTS Championship record: 2-1
Jesse Symons is in his third season as the head coach of the UBC Thunderbirds women’s soccer team after being named to the position in May 2016.
He had a successful second season at the helm of Canada’s most-decorated university program, leading the team to a 9-2-3 record in conference play. UBC then went 3-1 in the Canada West playoffs, earning a bronze medal. Fifth-year senior Jasmin Dhanda won Canada West and U SPORTS Player of the Year honours to cap off a record-setting career, leaving as the all-time leading scorer in Canada West history.
In Symons’ first season at UBC, the T-Birds went 6-3-5 in Canada West play, surrendering just 11 goals, third best in the league. The Thunderbirds then defended their conference championship by earning playoff wins over Alberta, Manitoba, MacEwan, and Trinity Western. UBC beat the Spartans for the second-straight occasion in the Canada West final. In 2016, the battle took place on TWU’s home turf in Langley, but the T-Birds came out on top with a 3-0 victory.
At the U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Championship in Wolfville, N.S., the Blue and Gold advanced to the final by dispatching hosts Acadia in the quarter-final, and Queen’s in the semifinal, which went to penalty kicks. In the championship game, the T-Birds fell 2-1 to Laval to take home silver.
Symons, who is a certified Canadian Soccer Association coach, has a wealth of experience. Before UBC, his most recent position was as both technical director and Premier League head coach for the North Shore Girls’ Soccer Club. In this role, he was integral in entering the first-ever Canadian franchise in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, a 100-team organization based in the United States. He also holds the distinction of being the only coach to win two Canada Games national championships, in 2009 and 2013.
Prior to his time with the North Shore Girls’ Soccer Club, Symons served 10 years as the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club W-League team and Girls Elite program.
Through his experience building championship-level programs in British Columbia, Symons has developed connections and contacts that have enabled him to continually attract this country’s top student-athletes to the UBC women’s soccer program.
