VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds made it two wins on the bounce after a hard fought 3-1 victory over Trinity Western Spartans at Thunderbird Stadium on Friday evening after a strong start to both halves saw the home side secure what could be a huge three points when the end of season shakedown plays out.
Victory Shumbusho fired UBC ahead in the 5th minute before a Thomas Powell penalty tied things up for the Spartans two minutes before half time. But goals from Logan Chung and Daniel Kaiser within the first seven minutes of the restart saw the Thunderbirds over the line in their Canada West home opener.
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"There was a lot going on," UBC head coach
Mike Mosher said of the match. "We started really well, we were on top early and then they came at us and the balance swung at us. Credit to them, they did their homework and they made life difficult for us."
UBC regrouped at the half, switching to a four at the back after the restart, and came out all guns blazing to stun the visitors and secure the victory.
"We changed it up to come back into the second half and the game swung back in our favour," Mosher added. "We've had a good week plus of training. It's been quite sharp, so the boys were buzzing. That's football, sometimes it comes off for you and we took our chances and won."
UBC came out strong from first kick, immediately taking the game to the visitors and they got their reward early when Shumbusho ran onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Markus Kaiser, taking a touch before knocking it past the onrushing Alexander Cordeiro to give the home side a fifth minute lead.
The Thunderbirds nearly added to their tally a minute later when Mihai Hodut's fierce shot from the edge of the box was tipped over by Cordeiro in the Spartans goal.
Trinity Western quickly regrouped after the early setback and started to come more into the game with Brandon Torresan forcing Bennett McKay into his first save of the match in the 12th minute with a long range effort.
The game ebbed and flowed, with both sides enjoying possession and moving the ball around well, but struggling to create much room in the final third and break down two solid defensive presses.
Shumbusho came close to grabbing his second in the 25th minute with a nice turn and shot, but Cordeiro was off his line quickly to smother the danger.
After that Trinity Western started to control the match with both Soren Di Sabatino and Brandon Torresan coming close with efforts.Â
Torresan in particular was causing a lot of issues for the Thunderbirds defense and when he was sent crashing to the ground in the box with three minutes of the half remaining, the referee has no hesitation in pointing to the spot and Powell tucked away the penalty with aplomb to send the teams into the break on a level footing that fully merited how the first half had played out.
Whatever the half time team talk and game plan had been for the visitors, it was soon blown out of the water by a stunning early UBC blitz that saw them start the second half akin to how they started the first.
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Chung quickly restored the Thunderbirds lead just two minutes after the restart, dancing through the Spartans defense and firing home past Cordeiro for a fantastic solo goal.
Chris Fisher almost put UBC two ahead in the 51st minute following a goalmouth scramble, but the Thunderbirds weren't to be denied and made it three from the subsequent corner when Kaiser rose superbly to powerfully head home a pinpoint Thomas Gardner corner.
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Trinity Western must have wondered what had hit them but they quickly regrouped and as in the first half they started to dominate the play and take the game to the home side.
Both teams exchanged chances and had some close calls and near misses, but neither side could find the breakthrough to add to the scoreline and UBC came away with a big 3-1 victory against the team that came into the match leading Canada West.
UBC will be back in action on Saturday night when they host the University of Fraser Valley Cascades, looking to make it three wins on the bounce. There's little rest for Trinity Western who now head over to the island to take on the University of Victoria Vikes at Centennial Stadium on Saturday night.
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