VANCOUVER - The No.4-ranked Alberta Golden Bears topped the No. 5-ranked UBC Thunderbirds 2-1 in a battle of top two teams in Canada West soccer Friday night at Thunderbird Park.
Alberta (6-1-0) leapt out to the lead in the second half as the T-Birds (4-2-0) could not recover to regain level footing.
The first half was dominated by the attackers with the back four of both sides trying to find their form. The larger share of the first half chances were off the feet of the Thunderbirds as precise balls from defender
Will Hyde and midfielder
Brandon Bonifacio allowed the UBC forwards to gain advantage.
The complexion of the game changed abruptly following the break when the Golden Bears scored two goals in the first 11 minutes of play. Alberta's first goal came in the 50th minute when UBC defender
Graeme Webber was called for a foul inside the penalty area. The foul put Sam Lam on the penalty spot and the midfielder made no mistake sending his strike into the top left corner.
Alberta was once again able to capitalize in the 56th, this time on the counterattack following a pair of stops by Golden Bears keeper Jaswinder Gill. A deep ball down the left side was gathered by Lam who sent a perfect cross into the box that found the foot of Cameron Schmidt. Schmidt re-directed the ball on the one-time and under the UBC crossbar for 2-0 lead.
The T-Birds answered just three minutes later when substitute striker
Sean Haley headed home a beautiful delivery by
Tyson Keam to cut Alberta's lead to 2-1. The goal lifted the home side as they looked for the equalizer over the final 30 minutes.
Consistent pressure from the T-Bird attackers on the Alberta back line led to a flurry of scoring opportunities that forced Gill to make a series of stops. Gill made eight saves on the night.
Legitimate scoring chances came off the boots of Hyde, Keam and
Navid Mashinchi but ultimately UBC was unable to find the equalizer. To make matters worse for the home side goal-scorer
Sean Haley was sent off in the latter stages following a hard foul, which precipitated Keam's second yellow and subsequent ejection.
UBC hosts the Saskatchewan Huskies Saturday at Thunderbird Park with kick-off scheduled for 7:15 pm. Alberta travels to Langley to face No.10-ranked Trinity Western, on Saturday.
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