LANGLEY, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds will play for Canada West bronze for the second straight season after suffering a 2-1 semifinal defeat at the hands of the Calgary Dinos Friday afternoon at Chase Office Field.
Calgary's Kelsie MacDonald scored the game-winning goal in the 88th minute, sending the Dinos to the Canada West championship match.
Taking a pass from Montana Leonard, MacDonald made no mistake from just inside the box to give the Dinos a victory that also sends them into the U SPORTS Championship tournament for the first time since 2015.
After the Dinos' Natalie Arnett was sent off in the 23rd minute with a red card, Calgary was forced to play with 10 players for the better part of 70 minutes, but MacDonald's last-gasp goal saw the Dinos, who were 13-1-0 in the regular season, pull out the win.
"I'm so proud of the team," said UBC head coach
Jesse Symons after the disappointing loss. "It was a very unfortunate game because of bounces that didn't go our way today. Full credit to the players to create so much and move the ball in the second half. We really played at a strong tempo throughout the half."
Calgary opened the scoring just before halftime, with Maddison Fritze tallying in the 42nd minute. UBC tied the game in the 77th minute on a goal from
Rachel Kordysz on a perfect strike from about 25 yards out.
Dinos goalie Lauren Houghton, who was a Canada West first team All Star, made six saves, including stopping a second-half penalty kick, for the win. UBC's
Emily Moore stopped four of the six shots she faced.
With the win, Calgary will play in the Canada West championship game against the winner of the second semifinal between TWU and Alberta. UBC will play the loser of the other semifinal for the bronze medal at 2 p.m. PT Saturday.
The Dinos nearly got on the scoreboard in the first 10 minutes, but a clearance off the line by UBC's
Rachel Jones kept the game scoreless in the early moments.
Down a player after Arnett's red card, the Dinos didn't take a step back, and in the 42nd minute they were rewarded. Leonard took a ball at the top of the box, turned and slipped a nifty feed to Fritze inside the box, who slotted it home from 10 yards out. With the goal, Calgary went into the break with a 1-0 lead.
The T-Birds had a glorious chance to even the scoreline when UBC was awarded a penalty kick in the 51st minute. But with UBC's
Danielle Steer stepping to the spot, it was Calgary's Houghton coming up better, diving to her left to stop UBC's leading scorer.
In the 76th minute, the T-Birds' Jones nearly tied the match as her attempt from 30 yards out hit the left post. However, just a minute later, UBC finally broke through, with Kordysz corralling a loose ball at the top of the box and cracking it to the top right corner, past a leaping Houghton.
Then, with the game tied and overtime looming, MacDonald played the role of late-game hero.
"It stings, but we will come back tomorrow in the bronze match and finish the season well," added Symons. "We have a bright future with many talented players going forward and we will look to progress back to this match again next year."
