VICTORIA – The No. 1 ranked UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team suffered its first loss of the year, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Victoria Vikes Sunday afternoon at Centennnial Stadium.
Victoria's rookie forward Cam Hundal scored the game-winning goal in the 75th minute.
Hundal showed some fancy footwork, taking a pass from David Adams, switching from his left to his right foot to elude a Thunderbirds defender and score to secure the Vikes the win and sole possession of second place in the Canada West with a 6-2-2 record.
UVic is now one point behind UBC (6-1-3). The Thunderbirds defeated the Vikes 4-0 in the season opener in Vancouver in September.
The Vikes and Thunderbirds played a defensively sound first half with few chances at either end. A couple of controversial plays - including a Joel Gomez arm-tackle on Gagandeep Dosanjh (2nd, Abbotsford, BC) that could have been a yellow card and a pull down of Vikes midfielder Doug Joyce (Victoria) in the penalty area - were the highlight of an otherwise lacklustre opening half with both teams playing conservatively in the scoreless opening 45 minutes.
UVic controlled the bulk of the play, but the Thunderbirds were able to create several opportunities with long balls up the wing area but not generate any decent shots.
In the second half, teams exchanged several chances early but the strong play of Vikes netminder Daniel Kilpatrick in anticipating the ball and punching it out several times helped the Vikes to keep in control. He made five saves for the shutout win, while UBC's freshman goalkeeper
Luke O'Shea (1st, Richmond, BC) had the loss for UBC making six stops.
The Thunderbirds poured the pressure on in the final 10 minutes but Kilpatrick and some strong play from the Vikes overall team defence helped them to preserve the victory.
UBC's
Navid Mashinchi (2nd, Port Moody, BC) had the best chance to tie the game but hit the post off a direct free kick in the 84th minute and the Vikes defence cleared the ball out of harm's way.
The Thunderbirds will return home to host Alberta and Saskatchewan next weekend in the final home games for UBC in 2011.
