EDMONTON - The UBC Thunderbirds claimed the 13th conference title in program history on the strength of a 1-0 victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies at the Canada West Final Four in Edmonton. The victory also clinched a berth for the T-Birds at the 2010 CIS men's soccer national championship in Toronto next week.
Gagandeep Dosanjh, a CW first-team all-star, got his 'Birds off to a great start, capitalizing on a Saskatchewan miscue to score less than 60 seconds into the match.
A long thrown-in from fellow CW first-teamer
Will Hyde some how found its way to Dosanjh all alone in front of the Huskie goal and he calmly deposited what turned out to be the match winner.
"Of course it's nice to get one early on and it really settled our group," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher. "At the same time, any team that gets scored on that early gets unsettled but full credit to Saskatchewan today. They battled back hard and are a quality team."
Although the Huskies worked the next 90 minutes in search of an equalizer, they didn't get many golden opportunities as the T-Bird defence held them to only three shots on target.
"Our back four was outstanding this weekend - every single guy was just great. Jason, Matty, and Will all got conference recognition but
Graeme Webber is one heck of central defender in his own right," said Mosher of his fearsome foursome.
Zach Kalthoff picked up his sixth clean sheet in the tenth start of his rookie season. The T-Birds tallied eight shots on target with Huskie keeper Mark Diakiw stopping all but one in the loss.
Joining UBC in Toronto next week are CW league champions Alberta, who picked up conference bronze on Sunday after having already secured their spot at the CIS tournament by virtue of their regular season performance.
Mosher's confident his squad has what it takes to be a factor next weekend but he knows it won't be easy.
"Our approach is going to be very similar to what it was this weekend. We want to play tight defensively and keep a clean sheet - that style makes it really hard to beat you," said the UBC bench boss. "The quality of the teams that had already qualified looks to very strong and there are going to be no easy games."
The tournament gets underway next next Thursday in Toronto.
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