Entering the U SPORTS Men's Soccer National Championship tournament as the number one seed for the first time in seven years, the UBC Thunderbirds are settled in the host city of Oshawa, Ontario, preparing and eagerly awaiting to begin their quest for a 14
th title.
The 'Birds face the University of New Brunswick Reds in quarter-final action on Thursday afternoon at Ontario Tech's campus with a berth in Friday's semifinal against either the host Ridgebacks or the McGill Redbirds on the line.
The last time the T-Birds faced off against the Reds at nationals? Also back in 2017 in Kamloops when UBC earned a 2-1 extra time quarter-final victory.
This go around, however, the travel is far more substantial for the T-Birds, but it's something the team is well used to at this time of the year.
"We arrived at the hotel last night and will kind of get our feet underneath us here for Tuesday and Wednesday. We're fortunate to have the four o'clock (quarter-final) timeslot which is nice as well going into Thursday," said UBC head coach
Mike Mosher who's in search of his sixth U SPORTS title leading the blue and gold. "All that helps, but certainly being able to get here and have a session today and a session tomorrow really helps us in terms of preparation going into Thursday."
Not only is the team's boss able to draw upon decades of national tournament participation both as a coach and a player, the T-Birds athletes themselves boast a wealth of experience with the core of the group's veteran players having been to the big dance in each of their seasons with UBC. This week marks The 'Birds' ninth straight U SPORTS tournament.
"We've got a pretty experienced group…and as long as the weather cooperates to a certain degree, you can get used to new fields and so on," added Mosher whose group will take to the Ridgebacks' home venue for the first time at Wednesday's training session. "I like our group and the experience factor within our group. We've talked about this at Canada West as being something to our advantage."
The T-Birds certainly also have plenty of confidence to ride heading into the championship tournament, winning their last five games going back to the end of the regular season, having captured their Canada West record 23
rd conference title with a 1-0 victory over Mount Royal last Friday.
UNB is back at the U SPORTS championship for the first time since 2018 when the T-Birds last hosted the national tournament. The Reds are in search of their second U SPORTS banner and first since 1980 while the T-Birds look for their 14
th, but first since 2013.
Finishing 4-4-4 in their AUS regular season, the Reds earned a berth at nationals with a semifinal win on the road in St. John's against Memorial University. They fell just short of the conference title, losing 1-0 in extra time to St. FX.
Despite starting the week against the eighth seeded Reds, Mosher isn't putting much stock in how the tournament bracket shook down.
"At the end of the day, we're here at the national tournament and whoever's going to win this thing is going to go and win three games, period. Whether you're the one seed, the two seed, the eighth seed, whoever's going to win it is going to need to win three. We don't take anybody lightly and obviously UNB got on a nice little run there at their regional championship and beat some good teams to qualify for this event. Beginning with the Canada West, we're not taking anybody lightly. We'll be well prepared for whatever team we need to face."
Kickoff for the T-Birds' quarter-final match against the Reds is set for 1:00 p.m. PT Thursday at Oshawa's Vaso's Field.
The game will be available live on CBCSports.ca.
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