VANCOUVER – The No. 4 ranked UBC Thunderbirds Women's Soccer Team puts their undefeated record on the line once again this weekend as they get set to host the UBC Okanagan Heat on Friday and Saturday, October 8th and 9th at Thunderbird Stadium.
It's been a dominant first half of the season for the defending U SPORTS national champion T-Birds (6-0-0) who saw a season-long shutout streak snapped last Sunday at 528 minutes in a 2-1 win over Fraser Valley.
"We know we have some special attacking players and goals will come, so if we can keep the fort locked up we're going to have a good chance of being on the right end of the match," said UBC Head Coach Jesse Symons. "Defensive organization is very important for us and I think the whole team is motivated to keep that as our identity."
While the Heat (0-3-3) have yet to record their first win of the season, they have picked up a result in three of their last four contests and sit just one point behind the UNBC Timberwolves for the West Divison's final playoff berth.
"They play well, they've had a good start to their season in terms of their play, I think they've been a little hard done by based on results to be fair," Symons said of the Heat. "The league this year is very tight top to bottom, they're a very well coached team. They'll be exciting games to come out and watch because both teams play, it'll be very good tempo."
So far, veteran forward Danielle Steer has scored seven of UBC's 13 goals, on pace to set a new career high despite a shortened regular season.
Steer is also far from alone in terms of offensive threats on the T-Birds' roster, and Symons believes it's only a matter of time before others start to break out onto the scoresheet.
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Tess McRae as a senior and a leader on our team has shown ways to get into the penalty box and has scored a couple good goals lately. I do feel it's going to come very soon with our attacking group, they're getting around the goal a lot, creating a lot of chances, I'm excited to see them let loose this weekend and hopefully get around goal like they've been doing."
Kickoff Friday night is 5:30 p.m. PT at Thunderbird Stadium. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.
Both games will also be available live on Canada West TV.
