The UBC Thunderbirds open up the 2018 Canada West soccer season this weekend with a boat ride across the water to meet the rival University of Victoria Vikes on Saturday, September 1 at 2:00 p.m. at Centennial Stadium. It will also mark the opening game of the inaugural Legends Cup Series, which was announced earlier this week that features a season long series of competitions between the school's varsity teams across six sports. The new Legends Cup trophy will be on site and will surely serve its purpose of adding even more fun and fuel to the healthy, longstanding rivalry between the institutions.
 
Head coach Jesse Symons enters his third season in charge and despite the loss of some key graduating veterans looks forward to building on an encouraging 2017 campaign. Last season the T-Birds finish third in Canada West following a 9-2-3 regular season that concluded with a Canada West final four appearance.
 
Heading into the 2018 season U SPORTS has the Thunderbirds ranked seventh in the nation while the Vikes sit just one spot behind with the eighth-place ranking. It's seems only fitting for the two west coast combatants to be in such close proximity after completing the 2017 Canada West regular season with almost identical records. UVic finished in a tie for first place in the Pacific division with Trinity Western University as both reached the 31-point plateau, just one ahead of UBC in second spot. The Vikes would advance to U SPORTS Nationals where they finished in fifth overall spot.

Last Action

The 'Birds wrapped up promising preseason play with a 4-2 record, scoring 10 goals in the process while also being stingy at the back en route to earning four shutouts.  The exhibition schedule featured wins over two Division I schools in Oregon ST. and Portland ST. while the T-Birds also claimed victory against cross-town foe Simon Fraser University. The Birds closed out preliminary play with a 4-0 win over Douglas College this past Monday.
 
UVic played just three preseason games and compiled a 2-1 record, the lone loss coming in their last outing on the road last Friday taking on Western Washington in Bellingham, WA.

@CanadaWest season kick-off is almost here! One of our goals from preseason. #MoreToCome @ubctbirds #HereWeGo  ???? pic.twitter.com/kvmMBQjIDp

— UBC Women's Soccer (@ubcwsoc) August 31, 2018

 

Players to Watch

Emily Moore (#1, GK) – The third-year Victoria native looks to shine in her hometown this weekend while attempting to remain undefeated in blue and gold, still yet to record a loss in her two Canada West seasons. The 6-foot Arts student has compiled a record of 5-0-3 in eight starts.
 
Michelle Jang (#13, F) – The first-year resident of Calgary, ALTA., burst onto the scene in the preseason netting a team leading three goals. The Kinesiology student is one of several capable striker's coach Symons can turn to.


 

Coach's Take

Jesse Symons is pleased with his team's preseason display but is certainly ready to start playing games that count in the standings.
 
"As a team, we've worked really hard through the preseason and I'm especially encouraged with the attention to detail on team defence, earning the four shutouts in six games," said Symons. "At the same time at the other end we had seven different goal scorers in our six games, so we're taking it to the net by committee and showing a good overall commitment, I think we're in a great spot heading into Victoria this weekend."
 
While confident, Symons is fully aware of the tough road task that awaits on the Island to kick of the 2018 Canada West campaign.
 
"They're always tight games, the Vikes work very hard defensively by closing space quickly," added Symons. "I think they're a team that is very good in transition as well so we're going to have to be really prepared to manage the ball and keep it in the right areas of the field so that they can't exploit spaces that we might open up."