VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds women's soccer team has advanced to the final four of the Canada West playoffs Friday night in Langley. In a must-win scenario, the Thunderbirds will play archrivals, the Victoria Vikes. With the Vikes set to host the 2012 CIS National Championships next weekend, only the winner of the Canada West playoffs will go to nationals, unless it is Victoria themselves, in which case the second place team will advance as well. Game time is 7:00 PM at Trinity Western.
The other semi-final will see #1 seeded Trinity Western take on #4 Regina.
No. 8 UBC Thunderbirds (8-2-2 regular season)
Last Week: W 4-0 vs Alberta in CW Quarter Final
The T-Birds dominated one of the conference's top defensive sides in their quarter final match, setting up an exciting battle of high-octane offences in the semis. UBC was second only to Victoria in scoring this season, averaging just under four goals per game.
Those numbers are heavily tilted towards being at home though, as the 'Birds averaged about six on home turf compared to about one on the road. That is partially because UBC had tougher opponents on their road schedule compared to home, but they also have those exact same opponents to play on the road this weekend if they want to be at nationals, so that potent forward combination of Janine Frazao, Taryn Lim and Rachael Sawer will have to be in top form.
Fifth-year centre back Kelly Cook always seems to be in top form, and last week was no different. She made one of the plays of the game to set up a goal for UBC, stepping up into Alberta's half of the field to intercept a pass against the flow of play before hitting Rachel Ramsden with a superb cross-field pass.
The T-Birds area always tough defensively, but quick transitions from the back and savvy, aggressive play from their defenders like that could be a difference-maker against the top competition in the conference.
No. 4 Victoria Vikes (9-2-1)
Last Week: W 3-0 vs Fraser Valley in CW Quarter Final
The Vikes also got past their quarter final stop with relative ease, which had to be encouraging for Vikes fans who saw their top-ranked offence slow down somewhat in the latter part of the season. They certainly had a tougher schedule and still managed to put together mostly good results, but last week was the first time they scored more than two goals in a game since September.
Conference scoring champ Emma Greig got a late insurance marker for the Vikes. She had 14 during the regular season and will draw plenty of attention from the UBC defenders in Langley.
The trouble is, the Vikes have a multitude of great scoring options to prevent teams from keying in too much on any one player. Jackie Harrison, Lindsay Hoetzel and Sarah Douglas all scored seven goals for the Vikes, and fifth-yer veteran midfielder Janelle Smith had just one goal on the season before netting the game-winner last week.
