VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team came from behind to beat the Seattle Redhawks (NCAA Division I) 2-1 in a non-conference game on Saturday to open the 2012 season.
Just over two minutes into the contest, Travis Heim put Seattle ahead, 1-0 but UBC was able to rebound.
After a Seattle foul in the 38th minute,
Marco Visintin sent a free kick into the box, and
Paul Clerc was able to guide the ball with his head into the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1, where it would stay at halftime.
Early in the second half, Visintin again found himself with the ball, this time setting up
Brandon Bonifacio for a blast from about 25 yards out that eluded Redhawks' goalkeeper Jake Feener and went into the goal.
Seattle pressed to tie the game but failed to find the net. The Redhawks' final scoring chance came with less than four minutes remaining in regulation, as Heim sent a ball into the box that Hamza Haddadi attempted to steer into the goal, but his deflection attempt sailed wide.
"They had us on our back foot a little bit," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher. "But in the second half, we took the initiative to go up 2-1."
"This game had the competitiveness and urgency we were looking for. We had a lot of good performances today."
UBC directed nine shots at goal while Seattle had 15 shots. Bonifacio led the Thunderbirds with three total shots, with
Kent O'Connor earning two shots on goal during the match. Gonzalez and Heim led the Redhawks with four total shots apiece.
T-Birds goalie
Luke O'Shea made five saves while his counterpart Feener stopped four shots.
UBC will now travel to Bellingham to play Western Washington on Sunday at 2 p.m.
- with files from Seattle University Athletics
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