VANCOUVER - UBC moved to the top of the Pacific Division with a crushing win over the Trinity Western Spartans on Friday night. A goal each from
Niall Cousens,
Reynold Stewart,
Navid Mashinchi,
Paul Clerc and
Milad Mehrabi gave the CIS No. 4 Thunderbirds a much deserved 5-1 win, the only disappointment being the sole goal conceded late into injury time in the second half.
BOX SCORE
With such a fierce historic rivalry between the two teams, it came as no surprise that the game started off at a frenetic pace. The Thunderbirds pressed home right from the first minute, registering their first shot with barely 45 seconds on the clock. Tackles were flying in at midfield and it didn't take long for the cards to be flourished. UBC's
Harry Lakhan and
Sean Einarsson both picked up bookings early on, as they made their presence felt in the centre of the park. It was their control that allowed UBC to exert such dominance in the opening stages. The Thunderbirds wracked up five shots of their own before Trinity Western got their first on the board. UBC opened the scoring as Einarsson cut in from the right wing and drilled a low cross into the box finding the unmarked Cousens, who finished smartly to grab his second of the year.
The Spartans fortuitously went into the break just one goal down, but it did not take the home team long to go back on the attack as the game resumed. Man-of-the-match
Navid Mashinchi drilled an early shot wide before
Milad Mehrabi had his effort blocked and the ball fell kindly to
Reynold Stewart who slid the ball through a bundle of players into the net. Four minutes later, UBC had themselves another goal, this time in the form of a penalty kick, which Mashinchi coolly dispatched to make it 3-0.
The Thunderbirds soon created themselves a fourth, this time a well-taken corner found
Paul Clerc unmarked at the back post and he directed a powerful header past the Spartans' despairing keeper. Both coaches, seeing the game was up, used this opportunity to bring on some fresh legs and rest some of their starters. A host of changes left the game a bit fractured and lacking some of the excitement of the first 70 minutes until
Tyler Mertens burst down the right flank and crossed for Mehrabi to smash a volley into the Spartans net, a beautiful goal to cap an impressive performance for the 'Birds No. 11. That was to be his final contribution to the game as he was substituted a minute later.
Trinity Western left it late to get a goal of their own, but it was worth the wait. A silly foul given away on the edge of the box by UBC allowed Mitchell Urzinger to step up and slam a free-kick into the top right hand corner, cannoning off the crossbar and in just before the whistle sounded to mark full-time.
Speaking after the game Thunderbirds coach
Mike Mosher appeared pleased with his team's effort, commenting "Collectively we had a disappointing result last time out but we responded appropriately and professionally to that and had a really good week of practice and the fruits of that labour came out today."
UBC outshot Trinity Western 17-5 and had a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.
The teams face a short turnaround as they meet again tomorrow night in Langley at 7 p.m.
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