VANCOUVER, B.C. - UBC Thunderbirds booked their berth at next month's U SPORTS men's soccer national championship in Cape Breton, along with a spot in next week's Canada West championship game, with a hard fought 3-0 win over the Alberta Golden Bears in their Canada West semi-final at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday night.
It was the first meeting of the season between the two sides, and with both teams having very stingy defences averaging 0.5 goals against per game, it was always going to be a closely contested encounter.
UBC headed into the break with a narrow one goal lead after
Sebastian Dzikowski's 42
nd minute penalty finally broke the deadlock and as expected Alberta came out strong after the restart trying to find the equalizer.Â
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As they pushed for it they were leaving space for the Thunderbirds to exploit and they grabbed their second with a stunning curling free kick from
Chris Lee in the 77
th minute before Dzikowski sealed the deal, heading home his second and UBC's third with seven minutes remaining.
A solid performance from UBC that was certainly more difficult than the scoreline may suggest, and Thunderbirds head coach
Mike Mosher paid tribute to both his own side and the Golden Bears after the victory.
"I'll be honest, I didn't see 3-0 going into it, but I think that's how good we were on the day," Mosher was honest to admit after the match. "In the moments, in the key moments, we were really good. There's some good players on the other side today and defensively, we didn't give up anything on the day. At the back I thought Noah [Hrdlecka] was excellent today. The number of headers he went and won, terrific.Â
"Terrific performance, among many. Absolutely thrilled. A really strong and solid win against a good team."
It was an exciting attacking encounter from the off, with both teams keen to attack, but with both defences holding firm.
UBC came within the width off the woodwork from taking the lead in the 10
th minute when Brennan Fuerst's deflected shot flew up into the air and off the crossbar, but with no Thunderbirds players close enough to get onto the rebound, the Golden Bears cleared the danger.
The Thunderbirds slowly started to turn the screw, creating a number of chances but Chris Ezoua was in fine form in the Alberta goal to deny
Luke Norman, Fuerst, and Dzikowski on a number of occasions, registering five first half saves.
The breakthrough for UBC finally came in the 42
nd minute and it came from the penalty spot after Thomas Hope brought down
Markus Kaiser after a clumsy challenge in the box after the ball got away from him. Up stepped Dzikowski to drill home the penalty for his 17
th goal of the year and second of the postseason to give the Thunderbirds the lead at the break.
Marcus Velado-Tsegaye curled a low one into the side netting for Alberta in the 54
th minute, but that was the closest the Golden Bears came to finding their leveller, as the Thunderbirds did an excellent job at stifling a very dangerous Albertan attack.
The game was still very much in the balance as it headed into the final quarter of an hour, but a moment of magic from Lee doubled UBC's lead when he superbly curled home a free kick in the 77
th minute, bringing the Thunderbird Stadium crowd to their feet.
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Alberta didn't let their heads drop and tried to reduce the deficit right away, with
Bennett McKay producing a great save to deny Rilind Idrizi.
Dzikowski added a third six minutes later when he rose well to head home a
Connor Mrazek corner and the Thunderbirds were heading to another Canada West final, hoping to win their sixth straight banner, which would be the first time it's been done by UBC in the playoff era.
With a spot at this year's nationals now secured, UBC will now head into next week's Canada West championship game against either Mount Royal Cougars and the UVic Vikes. A Cougars win will see that game played next weekend in Calgary, but a Vikes win would see the Thunderbirds host.
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However that plays out, Mosher is delighted his team have already booked their nationals spot and is excited for what the rest of the postseason may hold in store for his number one nationally ranked side.
"Whoever we get, we get," Mosher mused after the match. "If we have to go to Calgary and play MRU, we'll do that, if it's Vic, we'll be here. But hey, we want to play for championships. To get a sixth in a row would be awesome. We'd be thrilled. I don't know if it's been done. This program's done a lot of good things but I don't know if six in a row's been done, so that would be another one.
"We look forward to it. We look forward to the conference final and we look forward to the trip to Nova Scotia."
