VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team is coming home with a well-deserved split after a pair of road games this weekend. Saturday night in Kelowna,
Mike Mosher's crew avenged a hard-luck 2-0 setback Friday in Kamloops with a convincing 4-1 victory over the UBC Okanagan Heat.
Pacing the UBC attack was senior forward
Victory Shumbusho who notched a pair of goals, an assist and a team-leading five shots. Second-year defender
Nicholas Momotani added a goal and an assist while first-year midfielder
Asvin Chauhan erased an early 1-0 Heat lead with his first career U SPORTS goal in the 32
nd minute of play. On the defensive side of the ball, the T-Birds were tidy, holding the Heat to only three total shots – Two of which were on goal.
The home side started strong when Malachi Emerson struck quickly in the sixth minute for UBCO. Despite the early adversity, the T-Birds remained composed, and Shumbusho responded with a pair of shot attempts within an eight-minute span to regain some momentum for his squad.
That momentum paid off in the form of an equalizing goal in the 32
nd minute when
Asvin Chauhan knotted things up for the visitors. Shumbusho's first point of the night came couretesy of an assist on Chauhan's milestone marker.
He was far from done.
In the 49
th minute, Shumbusho finessed his way into the 18-yard box and made short work off a brilliant right-side feed from
Markus Kaiser. Then in the 64
th minute, Shumbusho capped his three-point night with another goal that came in close – This time off an assist from defender
Nicholas Momotani. For
Victory Shumbusho it marked his fifth career multi-goal game.
Momotani ended all hopes of a UBCO comeback bid with his second career goal which came in the 86
th minute.
Mihai Hodut drew the assist on the 4-1 marker.
The win moves the Thunderbird men to a 1-1-0 record while the UBCO Heat now sit at 0-1-1.
The UBC Thunderbirds men's team will now return home for a non-conference showdown with Langara on Friday, September 2
nd at 3:00 p.m. The next Canada West conference tilt for the T-Birds takes place on Friday, September 9
th at home against Trinity Western University at 7:30 PM.
