VANCOUVER, B.C. - The number one ranked UBC Thunderbirds moved a step closer to winning another Canada West women's soccer championship with a comfortable 4-0 victory over the visiting Regina Cougars in their quarter-final playoff match-up at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Nisa Reehal grabbed a first half goal and an assist on
Ella Sunde's second to give UBC a two-goal lead at the half and there was no looking back for the Thunderbirds after that.Â
Second half goals from
Katalin Tolnai and
Jade Taylor-Ryan sealed the deal for UBC, who now move on to host next week's Final Four.
"I thought for us the energy in the first five was phenomenal," UBC head coach
Jesse Symons said after the match. "We almost scored the highlight reel goal of the season, then I thought there was a little bit of a lull. But then Nisa [Reehal] following in on the shot from Kat [Tolnai] to go one up really settled our nerves. Then we started to play.
"We kept really strong defensively throughout the game. I thought we managed a couple of their attacking players, who are decent players and who have pace, quite well tonight, and that's what we're going to need going into the semi-final."
UBC came out fast in the first meeting between the two teams this year and took the game to Regina from the first whistle, with
Katalin Tolnai having a couple of early chances and
Jade Taylor-Ryan bring a goal-line save out of the Cougars' Kareena Andersen.
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The Thunderbirds got their breakthrough in the 22
nd minute when Andersen could only parry Tolnai's fierce strike and Reehal instantly pounced on the rebound to fire home the opener from close range.
UBC doubled their lead 10 minutes later and this time Reehal turned provider, bringing the ball down well in the box, hitting the byeline and cutting it back perfectly for Sunde to slot home the second.
Regina made a go of it in the second half, but weren't able to really trouble
Dakota Beckett in the UBC goal and the Thunderbirds eventually added to their tally in the 76
th minute.
It was another well-worked team goal, with
Bailey Doerksen playing the ball to Tolnai, whose shot came off the right post, off the defender and in.
Doerksen also had a part to play in the fourth goal eight minutes later, playing the ball back to Taylor-Ryan, who started and finished a slick passing move to fire home.
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UBC will now host next week's Canada West Final Four on Thursday November 2 and Friday November 3, where the Thunderbirds will play the Saskatchewan Huskies in one semi-final, while Trinity Western Spartans play the UVic Vikes in the other.
"It's exciting and it's exciting to host again," Symons said of next week's Final Four. "We haven't played Sask this year, so we're really going to have to do our homework. They've had a really, really good season, so I think we're going to have to come up with the same energy that we did tonight. It's great that we're going to be on our home field next Thursday."
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