VANCOUVER – One of the most memorable, historic regular seasons in the history of the UBC Thunderbirds women's soccer program has come to an end, and the quest to add to that history gets underway this weekend with the quarter-finals of the Canada West playoffs. The top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds (13-1-0) pursuit of a Canada West championship begins Friday night at 6:30 pm when they take to their home pitch against the Regina Cougars (2-7-5).
 
Jesse Symons' crew is heading into the playoffs feeling confident after setting a new UBC women's soccer single season record for victories (13). His deep roster has depth at all positions and includes two of the top three goal scorers in Canada West: Danielle Steer (14) and Katalin Tolnai (10). Steer led all Canada West players with 22 points on the season, and achieved her own piece of Canada West history by matching the single-season Canada West points record, while also setting a new career record for all-time Canada West points (71).'


 
"Our league is so strong. We've been playing playoff-type games for half the season at least, so our preparation stays the same," said Jesse Symons who is hoping to lead UBC to their first national championship since 2019 and their first Canada West crown since 2016. "When it comes down to big games, we are motivated. Our players just enjoy the game so much and have shown a remarkable ability to focus solely on what's in front of them. They want to move on and keep playing. They'll bring the right mindset this weekend."
 
The blue and gold have been dealing with massive pressures all season, and the head coach feels like it's prepared them properly for the heightened pressures of playoffs. He added, "We finished the season off really strong, and we've prepared ourselves well. It'll be important to keep teams away from our net. The part of our game that we've been really stressing is to make it difficult for teams to create scoring against us, and hopefully we can continue to stress that same mindset."
 
The Regina Cougars enter Friday's match on a high, having earned two victories in a row, including a 2-1 play-in victory last Saturday against Manitoba. In 15 regular season games, Regina registered 23 goals which ranked them eighth in Canada West. Their 33 goals against were third most. The 'Birds will need to be mindful of both Peyton Enns and Taylor Bubnick, both of whom scored five goals apiece in 2022. The 2022 quarter-final showdown between UBC and Regina marks the second time in as many years that these teams have me in this exact scenario. Last year UBC punched their ticket to the Canada West Final Four after a 5-0 win over Regina on October 29^th.


 
"They have a similar team to last year," observed Symons. "We're well aware of the challenges that they present. They'll be ready. They've got weapons that can cause issues, especially up front. "They're coming into confident and our job is to be ready and in control when that whistle blows."
 
Depending on how things shake out both in Vancouver and out East, Friday's UBC-Regina quarter-final showdown could serve as the final home game of the season for the UBC women. Tickets are available here. The came can also be viewed live on Canada West TV.