VANCOUVER - The No.5-ranked UBC Thunderbirds charged back from a 2-0 deficit on the strength of three second half goals to defeat the Saskatchewan Huskies 4-2 Saturday night at Thunderbird Park.
Down 2-1 at halftime the Thunderbirds (5-2-0) kept their heads and clawed their way back.
Navid Mashinchi counted the equalizer for the 'Birds in the 63rd minute. Following a hard foul on Brandon Bonfacio,
Joey Loreth delivered a low, crossing free kick from the left of the penalty area that Mashinchi redirected past Saskatchewan keeper Mark Diakiw.
UBC continued to press the visitors for the go ahead marker, which they found in the 73rd minute. Gagandeep Dosanjh did well to beat his defender and sent a quality shot at Diakiw that the keeper did well to knock away but the rebound landed on the foot of substitute midfielder
Sebastian Crema. Crema, seeing his first action of the year, showed no rust sending a precise shot to the far post for a 3-2 T-Birds lead.
"I thought the guys showed some outstanding character to come back and win tonight," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher. "We faced a lot of adversity after yesterday and after going down two goals we came together as a team and showed some real strength as a squad."
UBC shut the door on any hopes of a Saskatchewan comeback with an insurance marker in extra time. Bonifacio took the ball up the left flank then sent a perfect cross into the box that was finished by substitute striker
Ashley Ankiewicz just before the whistle.
Despite possession favouring the Thunderbirds for most of the first half, Saskatchewan (3-3-2) was able to capitalize on a pair of counterattacks to hold a two goal advantage by the latter stages of the first half.
The Huskies first counted in the 17th minute following a UBC corner, Josh Northey led an attack down the left side. Northey put the ball through to Jerson Barandica-Hamilton who showed patience by out-waiting the defence before sliding the ball in off the far post.
By this point UBC was lucky to not be down two goals, were it not for a spectacular save by UBC keeper
Zach Kalthoff. Saskatchewan's Paul Craig found room at the top of the UBC box and sent a hooking shot labelled for the top right corner. Kalthoff lunged to his left and go just enough of the ball to send it off the woodwork before it landed in his waiting arms.
The save had Mosher impressed with his first-year keeper.
"I thought Zach was outstanding today, you don't see many better saves than that at this level."
Saskatchewan would eventually go ahead 2-0 in the 35th minute on another counterattack. With UBC looking for a foul inside the Saskatchewan penalty area, Huskies' midfielder Paul Craig led the attack and beat his man just outside the UBC box resulting in a quality scoring chance that was turned away by Kalthoff. The rebound could not be cleared and was gathered by Barandica-Hamilton who buried his second goal of the match into the open UBC goal.
The T-Birds cut the deficit in half five minutes later when, in the 40th minute, Bonifacio buried a chance when the ball came to him following a scramble in front of the Saskatchewan goal to make the score 2-1 heading into the half.
After a week off Saskatchewan host the Victoria Vikes on October 16th. UBC travels to Trinity Western to take on the No. 10-ranked Spartans for their second meeting of the season on October 8th, kick-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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