VANCOUVER – An explosive second half, highlighted by a hat trick from rookie forward Victory Shumbusho, kept the No. 2-ranked UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team (5-0-1) unbeaten on Saturday night, as they rolled to a 5-0 win over the MacEwan Griffins (1-5-0) at Ken Woods Field.

Aside from Shumbusho, Zach Verhoeven and Mackenzie Cole both netted markers for the 'Birds, while another freshman, midfielder Mihai Hodut, had a couple of quality assists in the contest.

Head coach Mike Mosher wasn't thrilled with the start, as the 'Birds and Griffins went scoreless in the opening 45 minutes, but the long-time UBC bench boss was encouraged by his squad's resiliency.

"Not a good first half," said Mosher. "But again, a good response – a good, quality 15 minutes to start the second half, and that pretty much sealed it from there. I think it says something about our depth, because on day twos, we have guys we can bring off the bench that cause a lot of problems for other teams."
 

@ubcmsoc striker @victorious99_99 recorded a hat trick in a 5-0 victory over MacEwan. The Thunderbirds remain undefeated (5-0-1) in 2017. #GoBirdsGo

A post shared by UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) on Sep 17, 2017 at 12:33am PDT

The best chance in the opening frame came off the feet of Kristian Yli-Hietanen, as the UBC forward broke in alone and made a deft play to volley a bouncing ball on goal, only to be denied by the charging Griffins keeper Dory Elliott.

Coming out of the half, Verhoeven finally broke the deadlock just three minutes. Flashing his skill on a phenomenal solo effort, the attacker stripped a MacEwan fullback at midfield before running it back 50 yards, beating a couple of Griffin defenders and slotting it past Elliott.

That seemed to open the floodgates, as just eight minutes later, some nice ball movement ended at the foot of Mackenzie Cole, who put a one-touch bullet past Elliott after taking a feed from Hodut.



From then, it was all Victory. Subbing on in the 63rd minute, Shumbusho took all of two minutes to get on the board, connecting on a header deep in the MacEwan box.

In the 81st minute, the Chilliwack native bagged his second on a deft move inside, taking a short pass from Kyle Sohi in stride before stepping around a Griffins defender and burying a low shot to the back of the goal.

The striker capped off the trifecta with three minutes left in regulation, taking the feed from Hodut in the box and smoothly finishing from close range.

Mosher made it clear that as athletic as Shumbusho is, his mentality is just as key to the rookie's early success.

"He loves to score goals," said Mosher. "He's quick, and he's willing to go to the spots where strikers have to be to score goals. You love when you have a striker that has that kind of thirst to score goals."

Shumbusho and the 'Birds will next head to Edmonton to take on the Alberta Golden Bears next Sunday, September 24, looking to extend their unbeaten streak to seven games.
 
Elliott made six saves in net for the Griffins, who host Northern BC and Fraser Valley next weekend in Edmonton.