VANCOUVER, B.C. – The battle of the top two teams in the Canada West Pacific Division didn't disappoint as the UBC Thunderbirds (10-0-0) and the visiting Victoria Vikes (6-2-3) served up an entertaining afternoon of women's soccer on Sunday.
On Seniors Day, fifth year forward
Nisa Reehal fired UBC into a 23rd minute lead, before Brianne McLeish cancelled that out two minutes before half time with the Vikes' first shot on target.
That set up a tantalizing second half, with a 51st minute free-kick from
Jade Taylor-Ryan and a fantastic looping header from
Ella Sunde in the 76th minute giving UBC the 3-1 victory and making it a perfect 10 wins from 10 matches for the Thunderbirds, as they clinched first place in the division.
"We had a little adversity at 1-1 after really controlling the first half I felt," UBC head coach
Jesse Symons said after the match. "Again, we had some chances that we need to bury and hopefully by playoff time those happen and I stop repeating myself, but if we're winning that's okay.
"Second half we really stepped up and started to push them really lower. A great goal from Sophia [Ferreira] to Sunde, that was one of the goals of the season so far. It was just momentum to go after them and that was really good to see. Jade scoring off a free kick was a really good moment to get that early lead in the second half. Overall, to go to 10 and 0 and to clinch the division now and know no one can catch us, is an exciting thing."
UBC dominated the first half play, outshooting the islanders by 14 to two.
Bailey Doerksen had the first chance for the Thunderbirds, showing nice footwork in the box to make room for a shot, and she hit a fantastic curler that looked destined for the top corner before Vikes keeper Kayley Lidstone produced an equally fantastic acrobatic save to turn the ball away.
UBC got their breakthrough in the 23rd minute when
Jade Taylor-Ryan flicked on a
Sophia Ferreira cross in from the right. The ball came to Reehal at the back of the box and she made no mistake in drilling the ball home for the opener.
The Thunderbirds almost added a second in the 39th minute when Ferreira got onto a cross in from
Zoelle Apps, but her header crashed off the left post. The rebound came to
Jayda Thompson but Lidstone produced another great stop to deny her at the near post.
The Vikes tied things up two minutes before the break. Taiya Scorey won the ball in the middle of the park and played a superb diagonal ball out right to play in Ruby Nicholas. U Vic's leading scorer got the better of
Olivia Gomez, hit the byeline, and played the ball in for McLeish to tuck away the equalizer, levelling the match.
UBC came out on the front foot to start the second and retook the lead six minutes in when Taylor-Ryan powered home a free kick from the edge of the box, that Lidstone got a hand to but couldn't keep out.
The Vikes almost hit back immediately but Thunderbirds keeper
Lita Billman kept out Tess Vande Vegte's header from close range.
UBC sealed the victory with 16 minutes remaining.
Holly Whelan saw her goal-bound effort cleared off the line by Tannis McKay. UBC kept the pressure on and Ferreira sent in a pinpoint cross from the left which was brilliantly met by Sunde and her looping header carried over Lidstone and into the net.
UBC finish their regular season with four games on the road. First up is a trip to Prince George to take on the UNBC Timberwolves in a pair of matches next weekend. The Vikes head home for a game against Mount Royal Cougars next Saturday.
Having gone 13-1-0 for the last two seasons, the motivation is certainly there for UBC to go undefeated on the season, and beyond.
"It's our goal every year to win every game we can," Symons said. "For me, the consistency that this team has shown game after game, in this league that has seen so many games dropped and tied and one goal victories, it's been pretty impressive to see the personality here.
"To continue to score three goals a game, I'm pretty certain if we can keep doing that, we'll be able to get a result more often than not. Hopefully we can get over this now next week in Prince George and then look at that for the last weekend against UFV and Trinity Western."
