VANCOUVER, B.C. - Seniors Night is always a special occasion at Thunderbird Stadium and Friday was certainly no exception as the Canada West leading UBC Thunderbirds turned on the second half style in front of a vociferous crowd to come away with a 3-0 victory over the visiting Thompson Rivers Wolfpack.
It was the Thunderstruck Festival at the stadium and UBC certainly brought the thunder, but despite creating a slew of chances, they were kept off the scoresheet until the second half where a
Katalin Tolnai penalty, a
Jade Taylor-Ryan goal, and a
Sophie Damian screamer gave the Thunderbirds another win, another clean sheet, and moved them to 12-1 for the season.
The evening kicked off by honouring each of the nine seniors graduating from the Thunderbirds program this season - Damian, Tolnai,
Emma Hooton,
Rebecca Morgan,
Dani Mosher,
Nisa Reehal,
Janika Sangha,
Vanessa Tome, and
Jacqueline Tyrer. Due in part to the COVID-cancelled season affecting graduation timelines, this year's class of seniors was a large one, and the players impact on the team both on and off the pitch will certainly be felt. And on their special night, two of them found themselves on the scoresheet.
"There was a lot of emotion tonight with this being Seniors Night," UBC head coach
Jesse Symons noted after the match. "We started all out seniors tonight which was an opportunity and a privilege with all the depth that we have. Last time we played them too it was nil-nil at the half. TRU have got a good team. They fight hard and they were playing for their lives. Fortunately, as the half went on I felt we got stronger and the second half we came out with a lot of chances and were good value for the win tonight."
With eight of the graduating players starting the match, UBC pushed hard for another early breakthrough, but TRU were keen not to give the Thunderbirds everything their own way and launched a couple of early attacks of their own.
UBC started to turn the screw and created a slew of first half chances, but were unable to penetrate a resolute TRU backline and were denied by a string of saves from Wolfpack keeper Cassandra De Amaral.
Reehal had the ball in the net in the 18
th minute, but it was perhaps harshly called back for a foul by Damian in the build up, before Tome flashed one just inches past the left post seven minutes later.
Leading scorer Tolnai landed a header from a Hooton free kick on top of the net just past the half hour mark before having a couple of chances to break the deadlock in the closing minutes of the half. She had two bites of the cherry in the 41
st minute but was denied by first De Amaral and then a block through a crowd of players, before being kept out by a De Amaral save at the near post in stoppage time.
The breakthrough finally came 10 minutes into the second half when Tolnai scored from the spot after a foul on
Jayda Thompson in the box had given UBC a penalty.
After that there was no looking back for the home side. Taylor-Ryan scored her 5
th of the season in the 74
th minute when she buried a punched clearance from De Amaral and the goal of the night came in the 90
th minute when Damian hit a 20 yard screamer that flew over the head of the Wolfpack keeper and into the net.
Taiya Dennehy nearly outdid that in stoppage time with a 27-yard rocket that crashed off the bar, but in the end it was a solid and comfortable three-goal victory for the now officially crowned number one seeds in Canada West.
The Thunderbirds have one final game of the regular season to play when the UBC Okanagan Heat head to Ken Woods Field on Sunday. That game kicks off at 1.00pm PT. Thompson Rivers will round off their season with a trip to Prince George to take on the UNBC Timberwolves on Sunday at noon.
