SEATTLE – The UBC Thunderbirds women's soccer team opened the 2017 varsity season with a 1-1 draw in a non-conference matchup against the Seattle Redhawks, an NCAA Division I program, Friday afternoon at Championship Field.
"A good first match to start the pre-season against an athletic team," remarked UBC head coach
Jesse Symons, in his second season with the squad. "It was exciting to be back in a competitive match and feel it was a great first game out for the squad. We created lots of great movements to build on for our upcoming matches"
Fifth-year senior
Aman Shergill, who has moved to the forward position full time after spending most of her university career as a defender, opened the scoring the 37th minute. Shergill had two of the three UBC shots on net.
The assist went to midfielder
Rachel Jones, named by Symons as the Thunderbird of the contest.
"She played the full 90 minutes and really kept the ball well," said Symons. "She connected well with front players and dictated the pace of the game."
Seattle had 14 shots, while UBC directed five towards the opposition net. The hosts also had a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.
"We were able to counter on oppositions mistakes and transitions from back line to front line through our midfield unit," said Symons. "Despite the high pressure our back line was able to play out and find our strikers feet."
Emily Moore started the game in net for UBC, and made three saves.
Marlee Maracle took over after halftime and recorded two stops.
"As our first game it was really good to see how there were some new connections forming between players and units," said Symons. "It's exciting as there is so much potential and growth to come as we work towards our first Canada West game."
The Canada West conference slate starts Sept. 2 in Victoria, but before then, UBC will return to Seattle in a week's time to face the Seattle Pacific Falcons on Aug. 18 at 3 p.m.
