VANCOUVER – In what was the biggest game of the season for both teams thus far, the UBC Thunderbirds (7-1-2) and UVic Vikes (7-1-2) battled to a 1-1 draw at Thunderbird Stadium on Friday evening.
Both teams came into the game with identical 7-1-1 records on the season and tied with 22 points , but UVic held first place in the Canada West's Pacific Division by virtue of a 1-0 victory over UBC in both teams' season opener. The 'Vikes remain in first place after Friday's draw.
"The majority of the game we kept possession and had a good tempo," said UBC head coach
Jesse Symons. "Give credit to UVic. They droped down defensively and made it difficult for us to break through them."
Thunderbird goalie
Marlee Maracle made three saves and was matched in the UVic goal by Pick Louwes, who also stopped three of the four shots sent her way.
The UBC goal came in the 69th minute when UBC forward
Aman Shergill found her strike partner
Jasmin Dhanda with a magical one touch through ball from the midfield. Dhanda used her first touch to push the ball forward, before calmly slotting a left footed chip over Louwes for her nation leading 12th goal of the season.
The Vikes were able to equalize in the 79th minute when Trinity Kettyls dribbled out of the corner and found substitute striker Kyra Teetzen with a pinpoint pass. Teetzen took a touch and drilled a high shot over Maracle's outstretched gloves.
"I thought both teams were really up for the task tonight. UBC is so deadly as we know and have lots of great goal scorers," said UVic head coach Tracy David. "We wanted to keep them off the scoreboard for as long as we could and then see if we could counter, which we did…it was just a wonderful display for women's soccer."
UBC will get the rest of the Thanksgiving weekend off before heading to Alberta to play the Alberta Pandas on October 14 and the Mount Royal Cougars on October 15.
