VANCOUVER - The first-place UBC Thunderbirds kept on rolling on Saturday, winning by at least two goals for the third straight game with a 2-0 victory over the Calgary Dinos at Wright Field.
Miranda Mann scored what turned out to be the game-winner just before the halftime buzzer. On UBC's second consecutive penalty corner attempt, Mann's shot from the top of the circle took a deflection off a Dinos defender and eluded Calgary keeper Stephanie Petrowitsch to put the home side up 1-0.
Another penalty corner in the second half produced the T-Birds' second goal. After being denied on a breakaway a few minutes earlier, Vickie Pearson made no mistake on her second chance, driving a hard low shot just inside the post to double the UBC lead.
"We did learn some things from them the last time we played in Calgary, and we were able to get some of our problems sorted," said UBC head coach Hash Kanjee. "I thought we played really well in attack and generated a lot of offence. Again we didn't capitalize in some areas but it was a good effort by everybody."
The T-Birds nearly had a third penalty corner goal late in the match, but it was waved off by the umpire due to a high stick.
Despite falling behind by two, the Dinos were not about to go down without a fight. They nearly broke the deadlock in the dying minutes of the game on a clear breakaway opportunity, but UBC keeper
Bea Francisco charged out of her goal and made a sliding save on the initial shot, and then got a piece of the rebound as well before the ball was cleared off the line by a T-Bird defender.
"Calgary came here with a mission, really wanting to take some points off us and they came out really hard, which is great," said Kanjee. "It's good for hockey, so good on them, and it's going to be a tough day again tomorrow."
The T-Birds move to 5-1-1 with the win, keeping themselves two points up on the second-place Victoria Vikes. The Dinos fall to 3-3-1, but are still within striking distance of Victoria in the standings. Calgary and UBC wrap up their weekend set on Sunday at 1 p.m., once again at Wright Field.
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