VANCOUVER, B.C. - UBC Thunderbirds turned on the style in a 6-0 demolition of the visiting UNBC Timberwolves at Thunderbird Stadium on Friday evening.
After losing their unbeaten record last weekend, the Canada West leaders were hungry from the start against the winless Timberwolves and when
Katalin Tolnai fired the Thunderbirds ahead with just five minutes on the clock, there was no looking back for Jesse Symon's side.
Sophie Damian and
Jade Taylor-Ryan finished the first half with a goal and an assist apiece as UBC headed into the break with a three-goal lead. Tolnai completed her hat-trick in the second half with a pair of goals, the first a stunning free kick, and
Vanessa Tome put the cherry on top for the Thunderbirds with a sixth in stoppage time.
UBC also hit the crossbar four times in a dominant display.
"We asked the team today to play at a good tempo," Symons said after the match. "Win the ball back quickly if we lost it, get a lot of balls in the penalty box, and I thought the girls did that really well today. Unlucky on a few other chances but they're really trying to finish and create chances and I thought there were a couple of really class goals today.
"Katalin has been playing well all season and she hasn't been rewarded a lot with all the playmaking she's been doing maybe on the points, but she's really been dictating the games. Today I thought she was in really dangerous spaces throughout the whole game. She was really living off the centre backs today and would have been a very difficult player in any game to manage. She got rewarded really well today with three and probably had a few other chances she'll look back on and hopefully she'll get those tomorrow and get after them."Â
UBC dominated from the first whistle and they opened the scoring with just five minutes on the clock when Tolnai finished off a Taylor-Ryan pass.
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UNBC's best chance of the half came in the 15
th minute when Kalista Kirkness' corner almost crept in at the near post as UBC keeper
Dakota Beckett struggled with the sun.
Taylor-Ryan nearly made it two in the 17
th minute, firing over from close range, but the Thunderbirds did double their lead six minutes later with a fantastical goal that started with a perfect pass from UBC captain
Jacqueline Tyrer out to
Sophia Ferreira on the wing. The Portuguese U23 international responded with a pinpoint pass of her own into Damian in the box, who fired past Timberwolves keeper Brityn Hinsche with aplomb.
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Tolnai crashed two shots off the crossbar within a minute of each other just past the half hour mark, with Taylor-Ryan just failing to bury the rebounds, as the Thunderbirds went for the jugular.Â
Nisa Reehal was also denied by the woodwork in the 44
th minute before UBC went three up moments later when Damian played a nice ball inside to Taylor-Ryan who had time and space to curl one past Hinsche and the Thunderbirds headed into the half in a very comfortable position.
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UBC started the second half where they left off in the first, camped in the UNBC half, but they had to wait until the 70
th minute to add to their tally after good defensive shape from the Timberwolves kept them at bay.
Tolnai, who had hit the bar for a third time on the evening 10 minutes earlier, fired home a fantastic 20-yard free kick and she completed her hat-trick nine minutes later when she ran onto an
Ava Ferreira through ball to slot past Hinsche.
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Tome timed her run to perfection to run in and finish a Reehal diagonal into the box in stoppage time to make it six of the best for the Thunderbirds.
The two teams meet on Saturday evening in the second of their back-to-back games at Thunderbird Stadium. Kick off is 5.00pm PT.
UBC can win the Pacific Division with another victory and Symons plans to use the game to get some important minutes to some players ahead of the postseason.
"Playing the same team in under 24 hours, it's about depth," Symons said. "We're fortunate to have a lot of talented players and we had some players observing today that are going to jump in tomorrow. I'm excited to try and see them keep that tempo up and really push for 90 minutes. If we get a result there, we win the division, so it's a big game for us tomorrow to really get after it and we've got a lot going for it leading into our last week of the season here."
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