VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds (7-3-1) gave up two goals in just under six minutes of the first half in a 2-1 defeat to the UVic Vikes (4-6-1) on Saturday afternoon at Thunderbird Stadium.
Will Adams and Tanvir Bhandal provided the goals for UVic, after
Patrick Izett had opened the scoring for the Thunderbirds. All the goals came in the first half.
The Vikes victory avenged a 5-0 trouncing at the hands of the 'Birds on Thursday in Victoria.
"Obviously it was in our control and there were mistakes we made that we shouldn't have," said UBC midfielder
Karn Phagura. "At the same time we started slow and lackadaisical. We got punished for it."
Things were going well for the 'Birds when Izett took a nifty through ball from
Kyle Sohi and fired a low shot inside the far post. The goal came in the 9th minute and UBC looked well on their way to a positive result.
The Vikes equalized in the 19th minute when Adams took a nice feed from Michael Baart and drove a shot past UBC keeper
Chad Bush from the just inside the 18-yard box.
Baart once again drew an assist, when Bhandal knocked his header across the UBC goalmouth into the far corner.
UBC's attacked relentlessly in the second half, trying to find the equalizer. UVic goalie Maxwell Branyik-Gil was equal to the task, making four saves and dealing with eight Thunderbird corner kicks.
"Anytime you play UBC they are usually ranked number on or two, not only in our league, but also the country," said UVic head coach Bruce Wilson. "Our goaltender played extremely well and we got a really good performance out of everybody."
"We'll discuss it today and then training on Monday. We're just going to have a good week of training and put it behind us," added Phagura. "That's all we can do."
The Thunderbirds will host Thompson Rivers and UBC Okanagan at Thunderbird Stadium on October 13 and 14, respectively.
