VANCOUVER – A slow start derailed the UBC Thunderbirds Wednesday night as they dropped a 2-0 decision to their crosstown rivals, the SFU Clan in exhibition play. The Metro Vancouver derby pitted a UBC side who finished fifth overall in U SPORTS last season against a SFU team ranked 13th in the NCAA Division 2 pre-season rankings.
SFU quickly jumped on the scoreboard in the 5th minute when a nifty through ball sprung attacker Connor Glennon. Glennon calmy slotted the ball past the outstretched gloves of 'Bird goalkeeper
Chad Bush.
Minutes later, SFU's Matteo Polisi was brought down in the UBC penalty area. Kyle Jones stepped to the spot and converted the penalty kick, making it 2-0 Clan in just the 8th minute.
UBC seemed to settle down after falling behind the two goals and managed to generate a couple quality scoring chances, but none found the back of the SFU net.
The match saw UBC head coach
Mike Mosher experiment with his line-up, including using
Kerman Pannu at right fullback. Pannu was almost solely used as a striker in 2016, recording six goals.
"We fell victims to turnovers and their good transition game in the early going," said Mosher. "We had to move some players around a bit and maybe there's still more moving to do."
UBC will now regroup and head south to Washington for a Saturday exhibition game against Seattle University. UBC opens their Canada West regular season on Friday, August 25 at Thunderbird Stadium against the UFV Cascades.
