LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds scored a pair of second-half goals to pull away for a 3-2 win over No. 9 Trinity Western Saturday at Chase Office Field.
 
Kristian Yli-Hietanen, who was the Canada West Men's First Star of the Week last weekend, scored twice for UBC (12-0-2), including what would turn out to be the game-winning goal in the 69th minute. 
 
After Victory Shumbusho put the T-Birds head in the 55th minute, Yli-Hietanen extended UBC's lead to 3-1. The Spartans (8-2-4) pushed back, with Jacob Low scoring to make it a one-goal game in the 77th, but that was as close as TWU would get. Joel Waterman had a chance to tie the game in the waning moments, but UBC goalie Jason Roberts came up with a critical save.
 
Domenic Poletto scored TWU's other goal in the 44th minute.
 
"I was really happy with the effort and performance our group brought tonight," said UBC head coach Mike Mosher. "TWU have a good side and I thought we were solid and deserved winners on the day. I have been saying this is the deepest team I have ever had here and I challenged the group to go and prove me right. We are at that latter stage of league play and a few niggles are here and there so with the benefit of hosting nationals and pretty much locked first place, we need to make sure everyone is healthy and thus we had to sit a few guys tonight."

Among those who didn't dress: Caleb Clarke, Thomas Gardner, Daniel Kaiser, Karn Phagura, Kerman Pannu, and Zach Verhoven.

"I am really pleased for a guy like Dalllin Akune, who has really worked hard to be in the squad as he played a full 90 tonight in his first start in over two years," remarked Mosher. "And great to see Victory have the impact he did with a goal and an assist in his first start in almost a year and playing 90 minutes."

Both of TWU's losses this season have come against UBC, with the T-Birds beating the Spartans 3-0 in their second game of the year. UBC has lost to the Spartans just once in the last nine years.
 
The two wins this weekend helped the Thunderbirds clinch their seventh straight regular season Pacific Division title.

TWU finished the game with a 7-4 edge in shots on goal, but Roberts made five saves to earn the win. With 11 triumphs, Roberts is now second on the Canada West all-time list for most wins in a single season. The Spartans' Sebastian Colyn faced four shots in the loss. 
 
UBC opened the scoring in the eighth minute, with Yli-Hietanen taking a through ball from Manraj Bains in the middle of the park and blasting it past Colyn. 
 
With TWU holding a slight edge in first-half possession, the home side broke through in the 44th minute when Poletto knocked the ball down to himself in the box and sent a left-footed strike to the low right corner. 
 
At the break, TWU had a 3-2 edge in shots on goal and a 7-4 advantage in total shots.
 

UBC's Shumbusho put the visitors ahead just 10 minutes into the second half, whipping a shot past Colyn off the left wing.
 
Then, with just over 20 minutes to play, Yli-Hietanen tallied his 10th goal of the year, with Shumbusho providing the helper.
 
Low made the final 15 minutes interesting when he converted, with Pedro Paz Duarte picking up the assist.
 
The Thunderbirds will wrap up the regular season next weekend with road games at UBC Okanagan (Saturday at 3 p.m.) and Thompson Rivers (Sunday at 1 p.m.).