VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds completed a six point weekend and made it three straight wins after a 3-1 victory over the UFV Cascades at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday night.
After a cagey first half, UBC turned up the gas after the restart, with a goal from
Logan Chung and a brace from substitute
Nick Fussell doing the damage and securing a big three points for the Thunderbirds.
"It's a bit of a classic Canada West weekend where you play two games in two days and in the second half of day two, the game starts to open up," Thunderbirds Head Coach
Mike Mosher mused after the match. "For us, we are fortunate that we can bring in some really fresh weapons at half time and we've kind of worn them down a little bit."
The introduction of
Tristan Nkoghe and
Asvin Chauhan at half time certainly added a spark to the UBC attack and was key to their success, along with Fussell at the hour mark, and the message at the interval to the team was a clear one.
"Just be patient and the game will open up," Mosher added. "And if the game opens up, we must seize our opportunities. Keep pushing at them and we'll be ok."
In a fairly even first half, both sides showed flashes of skill to break the deadlock without finding the clinical finish, with UBC edging the shot count but UFV having more shots on target.
The teams exchanged early chances, with
Mihai Hodut looking particularly lively for the home side and Manpal Brar proving to be a handful for the visitors.
Brar brought out the first real save of the evening in the 17th minute with a dipping cross-come-shot that had
Bennett McKay scrambling as it looked like dropping into the far corner, before the UBC keeper tipped it over his bar.
Hodut then brought out a fantastic acrobatic save from Cascades keeper Jackson Cowx a minute later with a fierce strike from just inside the box.
Although both sides kept pushing, space and clear cut chances were proving hard to find and with no real goalscoring opportunities, the game fell into a bit of a lull to end the half.
The game was needing someone to stamp their authority on it, particularly in the middle of the park or at least up the tempo, and the Thunderbirds took that message on board taking the game to the Cascades to start the second half sparked by some difference making substitutions.
It was all UBC in the early going after the restart and after forcing a couple of corners they got the reward for their pressure from one of them when Chung fired them ahead from just inside the box in the 56th minute.
The home side kept the pressure on and doubled their advantage in the 62nd when Fussell fired home a low one from the edge of the box, finishing off an
Asvin Chauhan cut back just over a minute after coming on to the pitch.
Fussell grabbed his second of the evening and UBC's third seven minutes later with a very similar goal, finishing low from the edge of the box after Chauhan danced through the Cascades defense, cutting the ball back to
Tristan Nkoghe, who played the perfect pass into the path of Fussell to have the finish.
After that there was no way back for Fraser Valley, who were negated as an attacking threat for most of the second half and struggled to get much going.
UBC nearly added to their tally late on with Cowx doing well to save from Nkoghe at close range before Chauhan nearly got the reward he deserved for his stellar play when he crashed one off the bar in the 89th minute after more trickery in the box.
The Thunderbirds will be delighted with that second half performance, however, and a six point weekend. They now head west for a pair of road games in Calgary next weekend with a match up with Mount Royal first up on Saturday afternoon. UFV will also be continuing their travels, with the third of a four game road stretch seeing a trip to the University of Calgary next Saturday afternoon.
