VANCOUVER – Lisa Furutani scored in the 48th minute to propel the UBC Thunderbirds (6-2-4) to a 1-0 victory over the Alberta Pandas (6-3-3) at Thunderbird Park on Saturday night. The win moves the T-Birds past the Pandas into third spot in the Canada West standings.

With two games remaining in the season, the T-Birds finally control their own destiny with respect to a spot in the Canada West Final Four. With a pair of wins next weekend on the road against Victoria and Fraser Valley, UBC can finish no worse than fourth.

After sitting on the outside of the playoff race for most of the season, tonight's victory provided well deserved relief for UBC head coach Dick Mosher and his T-Birds. None the less, the veteran coach is well aware that nothing is written in stone yet.

"It was definitely a big win tonight but now we have to go beat Victoria at their home park, which is never easy," said Mosher. "I don't know how many balls they cleared off the line tonight. We will need to finish on those chances in the future."

The visiting Pandas kept the T-Birds at bay through 45 minutes despite a number of quality chances by the hosts, especially in the last five minutes of the first half.

Kelly Isberg had UBC's first quality chance in the 42nd minute when she connected on a header off a UBC corner, however, Alberta's Elise Emmott cleared the ball off the line.

In the 45th minute, Diane Rizzardo fired a free kick from 20 yards out on but Pandas keeper Sabina Bullard made a great diving save to keep the score 0-0.

Before the half, UBC had one more chance as Caitlin Davie had a header again cleared off the line.

"Every time we had one of those chances, I thought for sure they were going in but each time there was a Panda there making a play," added Mosher.

UBC finally broke through three minutes into the second half when Furutani was sent down the left wing by a Jaclyn Dunnett clearance and she worked her way into the box before finishing from 12 yards out.

Alberta's best chance to equalize came 10 minutes later as Alberta's Heather Lund was alone in the box but Dunnett was equal to the task, as she was able to smother the Panda stiker's attempt.

Dunnett appeared to get injured on the play but the former All-Canadian keeper stayed in the game. She made eight saves in the win and earned her seventh shutout of the season.

Her counterpart, Bullard, made three stops in the loss.

UBC travels to Victoria for a date against the Vikes on Halloween before closing their season against UFV on Sunday, November 1. Alberta ends their regular season with a two-game set against the Saskatchewan Huskies. The two teams meet in Edmonton on Saturday and Saskatoon on Sunday.