VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team completed a weekend Washington sweep on Sunday with a 4-0 shutout of the Western Washington University Vikings (NCAA Division II) in Bellingham.
It was a very competitive and tight game,” said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher. “The score line flatters us a little bit but it is a good result for us.”
Kent O'Connor (Langley, BC) scored the game-winning goal early. In the seventh minute, he headed a cross from
Alex Orasa (Richmond, BC) off the crossbar into the Western Washington net.
UBC sealed the victory with two quick second-half markers in a span of three minutes.
In the 71st minute,
Steve Johnson (Delta, BC) headed the ball into the net off a corner kick. Then
Greg Smith (North Vancouver, BC) scored a highlight reel goal to put UBC up 3-0. Smith dribbled the ball to the centre of the field and fired a shot from about 18 yards out into the top of the net.
Brandon Ho (Vancouver, BC) chipped in a late tally in the 89th minute to round out the scoring.
Richard Meister (Port Moody, BC) and
Ante Boskovic (Richmond, BC) shared the clean sheet in net for UBC. Boskovic came in at half time and made the only save of the game for UBC's goalkeeping tandem in the 59th minute.
UBC sent 14 shots towards the WWU net with seven hitting the target, while the host Vikings had five shots at net.
“A lot of different players got into the game today and we're very happy with the response from that group,” said Mosher.
The win comes a day after UBC recorded a 2-1 win at Seattle University (NCAA Division I).
“Over the course of the weekend, we dressed about 20 players,” said Mosher. “We had a lot of good performances; many of the new players had significant minutes. We were impressed with much of what we got over the weekend. From a competitive standpoint, we got what we wanted.”
“It's a great place to start and move forward from.”
The Thunderbirds will host two non-conference games next weekend at Thunderbird Park. UBC will play Saskatchewan on Friday, Aug. 24 (6 p.m.) and Thompson Rivers on Saturday, Aug. 25 (3 p.m.).
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