VANCOUVER - A pair of goals by forward
Sean Haley paced the UBC Thunderbirds in a 4-0 defeat of the University Victoria Vikes in the season opener for both teams Friday night at Thunderbird Park.
Haley's first, and would-be game-winning, goal came in the 44th minute on a counter-attack following a period of pressure from the visiting Vikes. Haley broke into the Victoria half and played give-and-go with
Tyson Keam. Keam's return found an open Haley whose initial shot was blocked but his follow got through the keeper and inched over the line to put the T-Birds ahead 1-0 just before the break.
The goal came after two legitimate chances from Victoria. The first saw Kyle Kostis send a cross just out of the reach of sub Craig Gorman. For the second it was Kostis on the receiving end of a Thomas Mallette flick but the chance was well-played by UBC keeper
Richard Meister who smothered the strikers attempt.
UBC (1-0) entered the season as the No.2-ranked team in the nation, behind only defending champion York, and they showed why in the second half as the stunned Victoria (0-1) with two quick strikes.
A long throw from defender
Will Hyde landed on the boot of
Marco Visintin who, in one motion, quickly turned and fired a shot just inside the right post.
"We really wanted to rally in the second half and stop their (Victoria's) momentum," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher. "That goal came on the end of a hard 10 minutes and put them on their heels," added Mosher.
Before the Vikes could catch their breath UBC were back on the offensive. A brilliant series of passes initiated by
Brandon Bonifacio led to a
Gagan Dosanjh flick over the Victoria defence to an open Haley who neatly tapped it by a charging Dan Kilpatrick for his second of the contest and a 3-0 UBC lead.
The defending CIS silver medalists' potent attack impressed their head coach: "We have a lot of weapons and we were able to put them to use with some quality finishes tonight," noted Mosher.
The T-Birds completed the rout with another quick strike in the 68th minute.
Greg Smith crossed the ball from the right side to a wide open
Navid Mashinchi who made no mistake burying his strike into the top of the net.
Meister recorded his first clean sheet of the season making three saves in the process, the best coming in the 17th minute when he punched a Wes Barrett shot from just inside the 18-yard box punched over the net. Had it not been for that save the game could have taken on a different complexion.
UBC will host crosstown rivals Fraser Valley on Saturday with kick-off scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Victoria now travels to Langley to face Trinity Western at 7 p.m.
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