VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds dominated most of the match on Friday, but a feisty Alberta Golden Bears squad capitalized on a key UBC mistake and that was all they needed to hold on for a 1-1 tie at Thunderbird Park.
Navid Mashinchi put UBC on top in the 24th minute when
Tyson Keam won a ball in the air and fed
Sean Haley, who played a through-ball past the Alberta defence into the box. Mashinchi timed his run perfectly to slip behind the defence, and his chip shot beat Jay Vetsch as he charged out of his net.
The celebration was short-lived though, as the Bears equalized just three minutes later off a free kick. Milan Timotijevic's long ball into the box bounced off UBC keeper
Luke O'Shea's hands as he jumped to play it in the air, and it fell to Kellen Stenger at the side of the net, who buried it from a sharp angle.
The T-Birds sustained heavy pressure in Alberta's end of the field for the rest of the night, but Vetsch was on his game and made several key saves to keep his side level. UBC outshot Alberta 23-6 in the match.
"I thought the quality of our play was good," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher. "We generated a lot of chances, and it's obviously frustrating not to get the full three points, but at this time of year you want to be playing well, and I thought coming off the loss in Victoria, the quality of play was a lot better today."
"If you play like that, you're going to win more than you lose," Mosher added. "I think our guys will finish some of those chances on most other days."
Vetsch made a diving save on
Tyson Keam's free kick that looked destined for the top corner late in the first half. He also made a brilliant diving stop on Gagandeep Dosanjh's half volley from 15 yards out late in the second half.
Vetsch wound up with eight saves on the night, very few of which were garden-variety.
The tie keeps Alberta three points up on Calgary for the fourth and final playoff spot at 5-2-4. The T-Birds remain on top of the standings at 6-1-4, but have just two points between themselves and both Trinity Western and Victoria.
Alberta takes on Trinity Western tomorrow, while the T-Birds host the Saskatchewan Huskies at Thunderbird Park. Game time is 7:15 p.m.
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