VANCOUVER – The CIS No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team dominated the first game of a long weekend double header against the UNBC Timberwolves Friday night at Thunderbird Stadium. Their offence was on full display once again as they shut out the Timberwolves 6-0, extending their win streak to a perfect 7-0 record this season.
BOXSCORE
Winless thus far, UNBC managed to play even with UBC for the opening 20 minutes of the match. In fact, they nearly beat UBC to the first goal of the game. A foul against UBC in the 12th minute gave the Timberwolves a free kick from about 15 yards out. The ball appeared to dipping just under the crossbar, but goalkeeper
Richard Meister (Port Moody, BC) punched it to safety and it was cleared out by his defenders.
Given his second start in net this season, Meister was faced with another challenge from Timberwolves rookie Brett Bobier (Prince George, BC). Swinging his leg around to kick the ball in mid-flight, Bobier's powerful shot forced a split-second reaction by Meister, who got a finger on the ball to tip it over the crossbar.
That was as close as it would come for the Timberwolves. Credit to UNBC goalkeeper Tyrone Venhola (Abbotsford, BC) for making some gutsy stops, 12 in all. He was up against a dynamic UBC offence that leads the league in goals per game. It was a bit of a slow start for the Thunderbirds, but once they found the back of the net, the attack never ceased. It started in the 23rd minute with Gagandeep Dosanjh (Abbotsford, BC) flipping the ball on the run to Navid Machinchi (Port Moody, BC), who knocked it past a sprawling Venhola for the game winner.
Dosanjh followed that up with a goal of his own in the 27th minute. This time Venhola was able to stop the first close range blast, but the rebound fell right back at Dosanjh's feet and he wasted no time putting into the back of the net. Defender
Paul Clerc (Coquitlam, BC) scored his third goal of the year in the 39th minute and UBC would close out the first half with a 3-0 lead.
The second half saw rookie goalie
Chris Beck (Frankfurt, Germany) make his first appearance for UBC and Dosanjh add two more goals to his Canada West leading season. The first came right away as he blasted one past a diving Venhola from inside the box in the 47th minute. Midfielder
Kent O'Connor, often the set up man, scored in the 49th and then Dosanjh tipped in a loose ball left along the goal line to complete his hat trick in the 68th.
"We played some good balls in the midfield and up front and even through the back," said Dosanjh. "We kept possession really well and we took our chances a lot better than we did last weekend."
After a strong rookie season with a team-high nine goals, Dosanjh struggled a bit with just three last year in his sophomore campaign. This year, he has already equalled his rookie tally in just the first seven games.
“Last year, it was tough luck. Things weren't bouncing my way. I'm happy to be scoring again,” said Dosanjh.
Scoring seems to come naturally to Dosanjh with the style of play that UBC has shown this season. He is setting a blazing pace, currently leading the team and Canada West in goals and goals per game, nine and 1.29 respectively.
“The quicker we play, it helps my game out, that's the way I like to play, so it benefits me,” he said.
Dosanjh looks to lead UBC to its eighth straight victory tomorrow night. They'll be back at Thunderbird Stadium for another 7 p.m. kickoff against UNBC.
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