VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team, looking for back-to-back wins following Friday night's 2-1 victory, denied the Trinity Western Spartans their first home win of the season with a commanding 2-0 shutout. The Thunderbirds are now 2-0-1 this season.
 
The crosstown rivals met under stormy skies, but the constant downpour and poor visibility didn't prevent the two clubs from playing a hard fought 90 minutes of back and forth action.
 
A great corner feed from Spartan Vitaliano Poletto nearly found the back of the net early in the match, but the cluster of Spartans offence was unable to outmaneuver first-year Thunderbirds goalkeeper Chad Bush (Ottawa).
 
UBC immediately capitalized on the play with a swift counterattack from Titouan Chopin (Kaslo, B.C.). Rushing up the middle with a burst of speed, Chopin fired a bullet into the back of the net to open the scoring in the 24th minute. The goal was the rookie's first of his career as a T-Bird.
 
The Thunderbirds' go-ahead goal provided a noticeable shift in momentum toward the end of the first half, but they were unable to penetrate the Spartans' sturdy defence.
 
Trinity Western midfielder Mitchell Urzinger, who substituted for Elijah Adekugbe in the 56th minute, poked away a dangerous cross pass from the Thunderbirds' offence that seemed destined for the back of the net.
 
The Spartans continued their offensive push with a lobbed header from Leighton Johnson in the 58th minute, but Bush made a stellar save and denied that the rebound as well.
 
Following a nifty passing play up the left wing between Thunderbirds Luke Griffin (Coquitlam, B.C.) and Chris Serban (Calgary) in the 63rd minute, Griffin nabbed the first regular season goal of his career with a snipe to the far side of the net.
 
Late pressure from the Spartans, including a dangerous corner kick from Adekugbe and a close miss from Poletto, wasn't enough to deny a Thunderbirds' victory.
 
This weekend saw impressive back-to-back wins for both the women's and the men's Thunderbirds soccer teams. The UBC men will look to continue their win streak with two home games against Thompson Rivers and UBC Okanagan.
 
The Spartans will have an extended break to regroup and the following weekend will also take on UBCO and Thompson Rivers.