VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team has landed a highly sought-after recruit with an attacking prowess for the 2018 season committing to 19-year-old midfielder Thomas Gardner.

A native of North Vancouver, Gardner is no stranger to UBC having called Thunderbird Stadium home for the past three seasons as a member of the USL's Vancouver Whitecaps FC2. The 5' 9" midfielder appeared in 42 matches for FC2 since his debut in September 2015.

"UBC is close to home and widely regarded as a top school for education," said Gardner who had the opportunity to continue playing professionally but wanted to begin his post-secondary education while continuing to play at a high level. "I have a lot of friends here as well so it'll be a lot of fun playing with them too, it's just really exciting to come here."

Prior to his time with FC2, Gardner was a member of the Whitecaps FC Residency Program, first joining as a nine-year-old in 2007 and eventually playing with both the U-16 and U-18 teams.

Gardner has also spent time at the national level with the Canadian men's U-15 squad at the 2013 Copa Mexico de Naciones and later with the U-17 team.

"He'll be an impact player with our team pretty much right away," said UBC head coach Mike Mosher. "I think he'll come in and he should be one of the best players in U SPORTS, period. I'm always of the belief that you can never have enough attacking options, players that can create and score goals and he's that. He adds to what we already have, I think we're building towards a pretty strong team for next year and beyond with a lot of good, young pieces and Thomas becomes another one of those pieces."

Gardner hopes to be solid at both ends of the pitch, but there's no question he is a skilled attacker.

"I see myself as a technical player," said Gardner. "I like to make plays, and obviously score goals. Hopefully I can contribute both offensively and defensively."

On that point, he'll get no argument from his new head coach.

"Obviously for next year we're hosting the national tournament and hopefully he'll play a significant role in that but also for the subsequent years beyond," said Mosher who expects Gardner to be a big part of the program for the foreseeable future. "We have a player coming in who wants a UBC degree. He wants to be here and get a quality degree and so we're going to have him for four or five years."