VANCOUVER – For the third time in the past four seasons, the Canada West championship banner will be tinted Blue and Gold.
 
The UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team needed a bit longer than 90 minutes to claim the 2015 Canada West Championship on Saturday night, but fullback Chris Serban's (Calgary) marker six minutes into extra time proved the difference in a 2-1 decision.
 
Though both Canada West finalists will head into the 2015 CIS Men's Soccer Championship next week, the win guaranteed UBC better seeding than their Vancouver Island counterparts.
 
Reigning Canada West MVP Cam Hundal opened the scoring for the visiting Vikes, just 16 minutes into the contest. Taking a feed from Craig Gorman down the right flank, the midfielder cut to the middle of the field and put the ball towards UBC goalkeeper Chad Bush. A scramble ensued, and the ball ended up in the back of the T-Birds net, giving Victoria the 1-0 edge.
 
Gorman almost doubled the Vikes' lead in the 29th minute, as he took a cross on the right edge of the UBC 18-yard box and looked to have an empty net at which to shoot. However, Serban charged in, stripping Gorman of the ball and keeping the deficit at one.
 
UBC's best chance of the frame came in stoppage time, as Gagan Dosanjh (Abbotsford, B.C.) put a high volley into the Victoria 18-yard box. With the ball high above his head, T-Birds center back Adriano Clemente (Burnaby, B.C.) took a shot at a bicycle kick, but his attempt went just wide of the left post.
 
Victoria made seven substitutions at the half, seemingly with an eye trained firmly on nationals next week.
 
Just four minutes into the second half, the T-Birds tied it up on the feet of two fifth-year veterans. Dosanjh, who led UBC in assists during the regular season with five, found Milad Mehrabi (Coquitlam, B.C.) streaking onto backup Vikes goalkeeper Jasdeep Lally's cage. The midfielder buried the shot from inside the Victoria 18-yard box, earning his second goal of the post-season.
 
Even as the 'Birds began subbing off key players of their own over the course of the second half, they continued to dominate possession and create several opportunities, though they couldn't quite finish.
 
One of those chances came in the 76th minute. After Serban flew down the right flank and cut in, he found Mehrabi near the top of the Vikes 18-yard box. The midfielder turned and delivered a beautiful lob to Kernan Pannu (Surrey, B.C.), whose header was stopped and knocked out of bounds by a leaping Lally.
 
At the 85-minute mark, UBC defender Bryan Fong (Vancouver) nearly found the back of the net, as he directed the ball towards the Victoria cage following a corner from Nike Azuma (North Vancouver). Somehow, the ball stayed out, as a Vikes defender pulled it off the line out of midair.
 
The two sides couldn't solve the deadlock in regulation, and were forced to go into extra time.
 
Six minutes into the first extra frame, UBC finally got the go-ahead marker they had been looking for. Midfielder Jules Chopin (Nelson, B.C.) found himself in a pocket of space in a dangerous area, and used it to beautifully pick out Serban, who was racing forward down the right flank. Serban took the pass and chipped it past Lally as he fell, giving UBC their first lead of the contest – it was the only one they would need.
 
Victoria pressed, but a stingy UBC back line left the Vikes unable to find an equalizer over the last 24 minutes of action. By the time the final whistle sounded, the 'Birds had gritted out a 2-1 win and earned the right to call themselves Canada West champions.
 
After the match, UBC head coach Mike Mosher admitted how impressed he was with his squad, considering the circumstances of the game, and what it leads into for both sides.
 
"I mean, the goal today was to go out, lift a trophy, and be Canada West champs," said the head coach. "It was a little different with the way it unfolded, with the extra time. Also, it's tough when you're playing back-to-back games, you've got to think about a flight across the country, and you've got an eye on the biggest prize waiting in Toronto."
 
That biggest prize will be on the line at the 2015 CIS Men's Soccer Championship. Like Mosher alluded to, the competition will be held in Toronto, from November 12-15. The T-Birds and Vikes will be joined in the tournament by McMaster and York from the OUA, Montreal and Quebec a Montreal from the RESQ, and Cape Breton and New Brunswick from AUS.