VANCOUVER – The quest for a third straight Canada West championship officially kicks off Friday night as the UBC Thunderbirds open up the 2019 season in Abbotsford against the Fraser Valley Cascades.
It's been an especially long pre-season for the T-Birds who embarked on a two-week trip to China and Hong Kong back in July for the World Elite University Football Tournament.
Following the official start to training camp in early August, the 'Birds played a pair of exhibition contests last week, a 5-0 victory over the UNBC Timberwolves at Thunderbird Stadium and a 6-0 win over Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Wash.
"Usually by about this time everyone's about ready for the season to start," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher who enters his 24
th season leading the blue and gold. "I'm certainly very optimistic, I think we have another very good group. I think we've had a good preseason, I think we're prepared and the entire group is looking for big things."
In fact, the entire conference is expecting big things from the T-Birds who once again topped the pre-season coaches' poll as the favourites to come away with a third straight Canada West championship while adding to their current conference record 19 banners.
"We tell the boys on day one, that's the expectation," said Mosher who is used to his team having a big target on their backs. "Teams want to beat you and it's like that every single week so you're going to see their best. Some teams hang their hat on a successful season if they've beaten UBC. It's nice we get the respect from the opponents but it's all what happens on the field."
There's no question the Cascades will be gunning for that early season upset in a key divisional meeting to kick things off. The T-Birds will be forced to play without last season's U SPORTS Rookie of the Year,
Thomas Gardner, after the All-Star midfielder picked up a red card in UBC's final game at last year's national championship tournament, as did fellow midfielder
Nick Fussell.
"We'll miss Tommy and Nick but we get to test our depth right away, but I like our depth," Mosher said. "We got guys like
Mackenzie Cole,
Kerman Pannu,
Sean Einarsson,
Ryan Arthur, these are all fourth or fifth year guys so you got to stop them too."
Friday night's season opening matchup with the Cascades is a rematch of last year's Canada West semifinal that saw the 'Birds dominate with a 7-0 victory. UBC is currently undefeated against UFV in their last ten meetings with seven wins and three draws over that span. The T-Birds opened up last season at Fraser Valley as well, playing to a 1-1 draw.
Sunday's home opener against the Trinity Western Spartans marks an early season showdown between the top two favourites in the Pacific division. It also serves as a rematch of last year's Canada West final that saw UBC clinch their third conference banner in four years with a 2-0 victory.
"Playing divisional opponents in the first weekend, they're like six point games," said Mosher, emphasizing the importance of this first week of conference play. "Fraser Valley always give an honest effort, they're very hard working and that's what we expect. Trinity has been very good, Mike Shearon has done a terrific job there the last couple years. They've lost quite a few players from what they've had but I'm sure they'll be well organized and be prepared to go as well."
The 2019 season opener between the T-Birds and Cascades is set for 7:00 p.m. PT at Abbotsford's Matsqui Recreation Centre.
Sunday's T-Birds home opener at Thunderbird Stadium kicks off at 2:00 p.m. PT with UBC looking to extend their win streak over the Spartans to five games.
Tickets for Sunday's home opener are available now.
