VANCOUVER - UBC women's soccer racked up another win, taking them to four for the season while simultaneously condemning the University of Manitoba Bisons to their fourth loss of the year. The result never really looked in any doubt after the sixth-ranked Thunderbirds took the lead in the 19th minute and confirmed it with another goal five minutes from full-time.
BOX SCORE
With the skies clear and the sun visible for the first time in a while, the 'Birds got off to as crisp a start as the conditions. Slick passing and purposeful movement had the Bisons chasing shadows for most of the first half. It didn't take long for their actions to reap rewards, as rookie
Jasmin Dhanda whipped in a superb ball from wide right and
Shayla Chorney leapt high to nod it in into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
UBC are currently in the midst of a 495-minute shutout streak that stretches back to Sept. 13. It is now six games ago that they last conceded a goal and they did everything they could to keep it going for another game. Manitoba's sole chance in the first half fell to striker Daniella Scerbo who looked assured of scoring with the goal at her mercy, only for defender
Sydney Morrison to throw herself at the ball and block it with a last-ditch attempt at the goal line. At half-time the shots reflected UBC's early dominance as they sat at 11-2.
The second half resumed much like the first, with the Thunderbirds retaining possession and controlling the tempo of the game. Goalkeeper
Alyssa Williamson didn't have much to do for most of the game but when her team needed her she responded with a fantastic diving save in the 49th minute. A plethora of UBC substitutions affected their rhythm momentarily before two of the replacements combined with deadly results.
Rachael Sawer grabbed her first goal of the season as she received a pass from
Nicole Sydor and turned swiftly to slam the ball home from 20 yards out.
Head coach
Andrea Neil was unsurprisingly very pleased with her team's performance and praised the collective performance.
"The team is showing that they're growing week by week," she said. "It was great to see the team stay together throughout and see certain players make a big impact.
Tamara Roughead had a great game and Nicky Sydor and Rachael (Sawer) did well when they came on. From Ally Williamson up to
Janine Frazao it was a very good, concise, collective performance."
The women are right back at it tomorrow night when they take on the University of Winnipeg Wesmen at Thunderbird Stadium at 5 p.m.
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