VANCOUVER, B.C. - UBC Thunderbirds lost their undefeated regular season record, falling 1-0 to the visiting Thompson Rivers Wolfpack at a very rainy Thunderbird Stadium on Friday evening in a rematch of last year's USports Men's Soccer Championship game.

Michael Ojo was the difference maker, scoring the 76^th minute winner for the Wolfpack on a quick counter attack with TRU's first shot on target in the match.

UBC fought valiantly for the leveller but it wasn't to come, and the contrast in emotions at the final whistle showed how important both sides were taking this regular season encounter ahead of potentially more battles lying ahead in the Canada West playoffs and maybe against at nationals.

It was a closely contested first half, as you have come to expect between these two teams, but UBC were dominant putting up 11 shots to just the one from TRU. Finding a way past Svyatik Artemenko and his resolute backline wasn't proving easy, however.



The Thunderbirds first chance came 10 minutes in when Connor Mrazek danced through the TRU defence before cutting it back to Tomas Pena, who saw his shot blocked, as was the rebound effort from Markus Kaiser.

UBC came even closer three minutes later when Chris Lee's low curling free kick missed the left post by mere millimetres. 

Sebastian Dzikowski was denied by an Artemenko save before Logan Chung could only look on in anguish as he was found wide open in the box by Dzikowski, stepping inside to get off the shot, but curling it off the inside of the right post.

Dzikowski was denied again by a near post save from Artemenko in the 34^th minute and three minutes later Brennan Fuerst poked the ball past Artemenko but as the opener beckoned it was cleared off the line by the Wolfpack.

UBC continued where the left off at the start of the second half with Fuerst's low drive missing the right post by inches four minutes after the restart.

Despite their pressure, TRU almost broke the deadlock just before the hour mark with their best chance of the game, A header on to the back post from an Alesandro Comita free kick should have been tucked away but Dylan Pauw and Jost Hausendorf got in each others way and chance went over the bar.

The breakthrough finally came in the 76^th minute and it came from the visitors on a quick counter attack when Comita played the ball outside to Ojo, who took a touch before blasting the ball past Bennett McKay. It was the Wolfpack's first shot on target for the match and they certainly made the most of it.



UBC came within an outstretched foot of finding the equalizer in the 84^th minute when Kaiser nearly got onto an inswinging Chung free kick to the back post.

TRU almost grabbed their second moments later when Pauw's rose well to meet a corner but his effort crashed off the left post.

As expected, UBC threw everything at the visitors in the closing minutes, causing a couple of scrambles in the box, but they couldn't find the killer finish.

Ojo almost sealed the deal in stoppage time for TRU with another quick counter, but McKay was out quickly to deal with the danger.

The Wolfpack held on for a famous victory, breaking Thunderbird hearts and giving their side a huge confidence boost heading into the playoffs.

The Thunderbirds have one final home game of the regular season left to play when the UBC Okanagan Heat head to Ken Woods Field on Saturday evening. That game kicks off at 7.00pm PT and will be Seniors Night, with the program honouring nine graduating players. Thompson Rivers will head over to the island on Saturday to take on the UVic Vikes at Centennial Stadium in Victoria. Kick off for that on is 7.15pm.

You can catch all of the action across Canada West, live and on demand, on canadawest.tv