MONTREAL – For the fifth consecutive year the UBC Thunderbirds are at the U SPORTS national championship tournament as they begin their quest for their first title since 2013, looking to build on their record 13 banners.

The T-Birds enter the championship, held at the Université de Montreal, as the fourth seed and will face the fifth-seeded Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes in a quarter-final match Thursday afternoon.

"We've seen video on our opponent and I think we know what we can expect, I think it's going to be a real battle," said UBC head coach Mike Mosher who believes having an experienced squad will be of benefit on the biggest stage. "Having guys that are a little bit older and have been to some big games, hopefully it'll help us."

After dispatching the Calgary Dinos in last week's Canada West gold medal match, the 'Birds are preparing for an unfamiliar opponent in les Patriotes who finished as the RSEQ runners-up after a 2-0 defeat by the national host Montreal Carabins in the conference final.

UQTR finished the regular season as the top team in Quebec with a 10-2-0 record, their first time atop the standings in seven years. While the T-Birds are searching for their 14^th banner in program history, les Patriotes are looking for their first.

The two teams may be unfamiliar with each other but boast eerily similar numbers. UBC led the Canada West in 2019 with 2.33 goals per game while conceding just 0.93 on average. UQTR averaged 2.41 goals per game while conceding 0.92.

Speaking of stingy defences, the T-Birds have not allowed a goal against in four straight matches dating back to the end of the regular season. UBC enters the national tournament having outscored their Canada West opposition by a combined 5-0 margin in the post-season while winning six of their last seven matches overall.

"Every pitch can play a little bit different so a couple practices to get the journey out of us and get a little bit acclimatized and away we go tomorrow," added Mosher who got a couple practice sessions in on the championship pitch this week.

?? MSOC | Farmer, Shumbusho honoured at the 2019 @USPORTSca men's soccer All-Canadian breakfast @ubcmsoc @CanadaWest @bcsoccerweb @aftncanada https://t.co/8hu5llgNfG pic.twitter.com/ARKEKVbOKM

— UBC Thunderbirds / @UBCTBirds (@ubctbirds) November 6, 2019

The 'Birds closed out their record 20^th conference title with a 2-0 gold medal win over the Dinos who are also in Montreal as the seventh seed and face last year's silver medallists from Cape Breton in the quarter-finals.

Kickoff for UBC's quarter-final with les Patriotes is 9:30 a.m. PT at Université de Montreal's CEPSUM stadium.