EDMONTON – The UBC Thunderbirds ran into a stingy defence Saturday as they failed to find the back of the net, falling 1-0 to the Calgary Dinos in the Canada West championship Final at Edmonton's Clarke Stadium.

Calgary's Keslie MacDonald needed just a tiny opening to deliver the winning goal and Calgary's first conference title in 14 years with a shot from the top of the box that went off the right post and in for the only goal of the game.

UBC, which advanced to the gold medal game after beating Trinity Western in Friday's semifinal, will also be off to the U SPORTS national championship tournament in Victoria next week. Silver isn't the colour of medal they were gunning for, considering the program has 15 Canada West championships to its credit, but it's nothing to sneeze at either.



"To get into the final of Canada West isn't easy," said UBC head coach Jesse Symons. "That was our main objective and when we got here, we wanted to go at it. It was a little hard to get around goal today. I thought in the end we had a good urgency and threw numbers forward and had a couple good chances, but it wasn't to be today."

The game was played primarily in the middle of the field, with few shots or chances on either side. UBC's best came in the 43rd minute when Jacqueline Tyrer delivered a bombing free kick from 35 yards out that forced Calgary's Lauren Houghton to tip it off the crossbar and out.

"It was a bit of a stalemate," said Symons. "It needed to either take a set piece or a moment of brilliance. Calgary found one today. It was a great goal and credit to them for that one opportunity they got.



Calgary didn't throw anything of note at the UBC goal early in the match, but they just needed one chance. Alison Pedersen threaded a through-ball down a seam less than six feet wide in the middle of the field and found MacDonald at the top of the box and she made no mistake.

The Dinos weathered a late storm by the Thunderbirds, but the stingiest team in the conference denied them. Captain Damiane Sawatzky led the way by shutting down Danielle Steer twice in stoppage time, including on a textbook sliding tackle in the box.

Both the T-Birds and Dinos will head across Georgia Strait next week for the national championship tournament which begins Thursday, November 7^th.