VANCOUVER – After a road-heavy segment of games, the UBC Thunderbirds (8-1-0) can unpack their bags and prepare themselves for the home stretch of their season that will see them play four of their final five regular season matches at Thunderbirds Stadium. This weekend,
Jesse Symons' crew will host a pair of Pacific Division foes when they clash with UBC Okanagan on Friday (5:00 p.m.), followed by a clash with Thompson Rivers University on Saturday (5:00 p.m.).
After starting the season with eight straight wins, the blue and gold suffered their first defeat of 2022 on Sunday in a dramatic 3-2 setback in Calgary. But with first place still in their grasp, the Thunderbirds are looking to embrace this momentary road-block.
"At this point of the season, I'm proud of the group. Our schedule, especially lately hasn't been easy," said
Jesse Symons. "It's important for us to just continue focusing game by game. Everybody is really excited to get back home to compete and we're looking forward to playing some interior rivals this weekend."
UBC heads into the weekend with the most goals (29) and the best goal-differential (+24) in all of Canada West. Offensively the T-Birds have often looked to veterans
Katalin Tolnai (8 goals),
Danielle Steer (8 goals) and
Nisa Reehal (5 goals) for consistent production, and Symons is hoping for more of the same this weekend. The head coach emphasized, "Dani is closing in on the all-time points record, Katalin is firing for sure and Nisa is having a career season. These three will be front and center and hopefully firing on all cylinders again."
At the other end, UBC will first face a UBC Okanagan (2-4-2) squad that currently ranks sixth in the eight-team Pacific Division. The Heat have secured a positive result (a win and two ties) in three of their previous five matches and are coming off a home split last weekend against the University of Fraser Valley (A 1-0 win) and Trinity Western (A 2-0 loss).
Up next comes a Saturday tilt with TRU (4-2-2). After a pair of losses to start their season, the Wolfpack have since rallied to produce four victories and two ties in their next six games, dating back to September 9
th. They'll begin the weekend in Victoria on Friday before shifting their focus to the Thunderbirds on Saturday.
Jesse Symons remarked, "We're aware that teams want to knock us down and we thrive on that. Both UBC-O and TRU are getting results. They play opposite styles and that's a big thing because each team is going to give us different things to break down and stop. UBCO wants to keep the ball, while TRU is more of a counter-attacking team. We're going to have to be ready out of the gates for both opponents. We need two more strong starts."
Friday, September 30
th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the UBC Thunderbirds soccer teams are proud to partner with Hope and Health to raise awareness. Please check out the details below as Friday's games will include a traditional opening from Musqueam's Debra Sparrow, a traditional performance from the Sasquatch Dance Group and more.
