VANCOUVER – 670 days after hoisting the Gladys Bean Memorial Trophy, the UBC Women's Soccer team officially begins their U SPORTS title defence as they open up the 2021 Canada West regular season on Friday, September 10th when they visit the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in Kamloops.
Selected as the preseason favourites to claim a 16th conference title, anticipation has been building for the T-Birds to get to this point, the opportunity to play their first meaningful match in nearly two full seasons.
"We're excited, it's been a long run," said T-Birds Head Coach Jesse Symons who enters his sixth season at the helm. "Credit to the players, they've been very motivated even in this hard time, they've stayed together, they've stayed connected. Now, let's go! We're looking forward to going up to Kamloops."
Despite the time that's elapsed since that national championship final in Victoria nearly two years ago, the 'Birds have been able to return the vast majority of their lineup, while adding two seasons' worth of outstanding recruits. It all adds up to a very deep squad with another championship run in their sights.
"Every single one of our attacking players scored in the preseason," said Symons. "They're motivated to play and showcase themselves in season here and I think there's going to be a lot of good, internal competition with our program. The leaders are going to lead and the new players are going to catch up and compete to play as well, so overall we're in a very positive place."
Friday night's matchup with the WolfPack will mark the first of back-to-back meetings with Thompson Rivers in what's a condensed, slightly shortened regular season that won't see UBC leave the province.
"It's not normal for a soccer season to play the same team one day and then again the next, so it'll be really interesting to see how teams match up on day one to day two and just how they might organize differently. I'm excited about our depth and our ability to maybe change and shift if we need to, or stay the same based on how that result went. We know all our competition well being all in BC and they know us, so it should be some good rivalries all season."
The T-Birds' season opener kicks off at 5:00 p.m. PT Friday at Hillside Stadium with Saturday's rematch set for 7:00 p.m. PT.
Due to Interior Health restrictions, spectators are not permitted at Hillside Stadium. However, both games will be available on Canada West TV.
