The University of British Columbia Athletics

VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds, the top-ranked team in the CIS and two-time defending national champions, opened the 2014 Canada West men's soccer season with a 3-1 victory over the host No. 9 Victoria Vikes at Centennial Stadium on Friday night.

BOX SCORE

UBC had a two-goal game from forward Niall Cousens, while Navid Mashinchi's one-timer was credited as the game winner. The T-Birds out-shot the Vikes 15-8 and 10 of their shots were on target. Second-year goalkeeper Ante Boskovic of Richmond, B.C., turned aside three shots to earn the win.
   
"It was a great start to the season with several quality performances," said UBC head coach Mike Mosher. "I thought Niall and Harry (Lakhan) were both excellent tonight. I thought it was a pretty well-played game by both teams. The pace of the game was very quick with both teams going after each other especially in that first half." 

Cousens opened the scoring in the 38th minute. The Vancouver native received a nifty pass through traffic from Mashinchi and then spun on his reception to free himself up with only Victoria goalie Noah Pawloski in his way. Cousens, the CIS national championship tournament Most Valuable Player last season, made good on his chance from just inside the box and gave UBC a 1-0 advantage, which was the scoreline at the half.
 
The goal came four minutes after 2011 CIS Championship MVP Cam Hundal of Victoria sailed a one-timer over the crossbar.
 
In the second half, the T-Birds found some comfort, increasing their lead to two on a precise finish by Mashinchi in the 58th minute. The 5-foot-9 midfielder from Port Moody, B.C., buried a right-side cross from Milad Mehrabi for the game winner.
 
Mehrabi nearly increased the lead with just over 20 minutes to go, after some one-two passing at the top of the box freed him up for a shot, but it was blasted just wide right of the net.
 
Against the flow of play, the Vikes managed to get on the board on an Alex Redpath free kick in the 89th minute. Rhyse Harnden managed to make good on the connection and his header got the Vikes their first goal of the season and brought the Vikes to within a goal.
 
But just over a minute later, Cousens volleyed in the T-Birds' third tally to seal the win, which was UBC's fifth straight over Victoria. It was also the team's 12th consecutive victory in Canada West regular season play.

"Full credit to Victoria for helping to create a fantastic atmosphere for the players tonight with a large and noisy crowd," said Mosher, whose team triumphed in front 1,923 people. "I think everyone enjoyed that sort of atmosphere."
 
UBC's next game will be on Sunday against the Fraser Valley Cascades at 2 p.m. The game will be played at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School and will also be streamed live at CanadaWest.TV.
 
Fraser Valley lost 1-0 at Trinity Western on Friday night.
 
- with files from Ali Lee (Victoria Vikes Sports Information)