VANCOUVER – It's back to back meetings between the Canada West's top two teams when the first place UBC Thunderbirds (7-1-3) take on the rival UVic Vikes (7-3-1) for a home and home Legends Cup series beginning in Victoria on Thursday, October 10 with a 5:00 p.m. PT kickoff at Centenial Stadium. The return engagement will be two days later across the water at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday, October 12 for a 2:00 p.m. PT start.
UBC has maintained their first-place ranking atop the CW's Pacific division with 24 points while UVic is just below occupying second spot compiling 22 points with just two-weeks left in the regular season. This week's series also features a battle between the CW top two goal scorers as Vikes forward Isaac Koch leads the conference with eight goals and a league high 18 points while T-Birds striker
Victory Shumbusho sits just behind with seven goals on the campaign. Koch and Shumbusho were honoured as the Canada West men's second and third stars of the week on Tuesday, Koch recognized for his five-goal output last weekend while Shumbusho was singled out after combining for three-goals.
Last Action
The T-Birds kicked off last weekend with a convincing 5-0 victory over visiting TRU on Friday, October 4. Forward
Ryan Arthur tallied his fourth and fifth goals of the campaign while
Mackenzie Cole added two assists and goalkeeper
Jason Roberts made two saves in registering his fourth shutout of the season.
The 'Birds followed that up by settling for a 2-2 draw Sunday afternoon against UBC Okanagan on the Point Grey campus, forward
Victory Shumbusho bagged his sixth and seventh goals of the season in the opening half with midfielder
Sean Einarsson providing the assists on both markers however the Heat rallied with two early second half goals to draw even and split the points.
Coach's Take
With just a couple of weekends remaining in the regular season UBC head coach
Mike Mosher shares that he was fairly pleased with the weekend that was for the 'Birds.
"I liked how we connected in the final third of the field for the first 3 halves of our recent weekend games," said Mosher. "This had been a focus in training and we certainly scored some good goals in free play which had been something escaping us previously. However, we handed back some of that good will that was earned with a poor second half in the UBCO game and that cost us some valuable points."
Mosher added that this weekend's series will be easy for all involved to get up for while also acting as a good measuring stick at an important time of year.
"We always look forward to match ups with UVic and certainly now with the Legends Cup in place it adds a bit more for the overall bragging rights," continued Mosher. "UVIC have had a good season to date and certainly present some players we need to be aware of. It will be a very competitive two game set."
