VANCOUVER – The No. 1 ranked UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team looks to extend their season long unbeaten streak this weekend when they hit the road to visit the UBC Okanagan Heat followed by a stop at Thompson Rivers University to close out the Canada West regular season. The Pacific Division's first-place T-Birds will meet the seventh place Heat on Saturday, October 20 with a 3:00 p.m. kickoff in Kelowna ahead of hitting the highway for a Sunday matchup against the fifth place Wolfpack at 1:00 p.m. in Kamloops.
Last Action
The T-Birds, who've won five straight contests picked up back to back wins last weekend to improve to 12-0-2 on the season beginning with a 2-0 shutout victory on home turf against UFV last Friday at Ken Woods Field. The 'Birds then traveled to meet second place Trinity Western and edged the Spartans 3-2 on Saturday evening in Langley.
UBC Okanagan (2-7-5) come into Saturday's action winless in four straight games which includes a 0-0 draw and 1-0 loss last weekend at the University of Northern BC. The Heat fell 3-1 to the T-Birds in their previous meeting at UBC in early September.
Thompson Rivers (4-6-3) are undefeated in their last three outings which includes an impressive 2-1 upset win against Trinity Western University this past Wednesday for a mid-week rescheduled game. In their first meeting with the T-Birds this season the Wolfpack dropped a 3-1 decision in early September on the Point Grey campus.
Players to watch
Kristian Yli-Hietanen (#17, F) – The fourth-year forward has been a staple in this slot for the last month as the North Van native continues his goal scoring spree. Last week's Canada West men's first star of the week was dangerous once again last Saturday scoring his ninth and 10
th goal of the season including the game winner to lift UBC over rival TWU 3-2. Yli-Hietanen now leads the 'Birds in goal scoring while sitting third overall on the CW goal scoring list.
Victory Shumbusho (#7, F) – The second-year forward is starting to find his stride after dealing with a groin injury that limited his playing time to start the season. Shumbusho scored his second goal of the season and added the assist on Yli-Hietanen's game winner to help the T-Birds edge the Spartans 3-2 last Saturday.
Coach's Take
"I think the group is in a good place right now physically, mentally and in our performances," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher regarding where he feels his team is at as the regular season winds down. "I like the vibe amongst the camp, confident but not too much so and very focused to perform for what is in front of us both this weekend and beyond."
Mosher also weighed in on how he wants to approach the final weekend of regular season play while balancing the importance of playoff action on the horizon.
"That is our focus for the weekend," continued Mosher. "Our own strong performances and to continue to play and achieve to a high standard. We want to keep what we have going and continue this momentum into playoffs and the national tournament."
