It's been a dream season to this point for the UBC Thunderbirds, who are riding high after winning their second Canada West title in the last three seasons. 17-0 on the year, the T-Birds enter the U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championship as the #1 overall seed, facing hosts Dalhousie in the quarter-finals on Thursday, November 7th.

With less than a week between playing the Canada West Final against UVic in Calgary, and playing Dalhousie in Halifax, it's been a pretty quick turnaround from celebration to preparation.
 

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"I feel we have a very mature team with almost the whole team returning from last year," said Thunderbirds head coach Jesse Symons. "We have players that have lost big games at national championships before last season, and they understand that when you get a chance to compete at the tournament you need to put everything into every match you play."

Back in 2022, the Thunderbirds entered nationals as Canada West champions and the #1 overall seed, with a sparkling 16-1 record. They played the hosts of the tournament (that year, Laval) in the quarter-finals, and were upset in a penalty shootout. The T-Birds took that experience and came back stronger in 2023, winning the eighth national championship in program history.

Seven players who took the field in that 2022 quarter-final are still on the team this season, as they aim to become the first time in a decade to win back-to-back U SPORTS titles.

Those seven include Jacqueline Tyrer, who was named the 2024 Canada West Defensive Player of the Year, as well as Jade Taylor-Ryan, who led the conference in points and has recorded at least one goal or assist in nine straight games.



Three other Thunderbirds were selected as Canada West All-Stars, with goalkeeper Dakota Beckett and forward Bailey Doerksen on the First Team, and forward Jayda Thompson on the Second Team. In addition, fullback Olivia Gomez was named Canada West Rookie of the Year, while midfielder Sienna Gibson joined her on the conference's All-Rookie Team.

While the T-Birds' high-flying offence can often steal the show (scoring 63 goals in 17 games will do that), the defence's ability to ground its opponents is perhaps the most important feature of the team.

The Thunderbirds have conceded just four goals this season, and only two in their last 14 games. At last year's nationals, UBC won the title on the back of three consecutive 1-0 victories. In unfamiliar conditions against unfamiliar opponents, keeping the ball out of your own net is of the utmost importance.

"As a team, we need to make it difficult for teams to score on us and really be prepared to take our chances as they come," added Symons. "All the games at nationals are close and difficult, usually against teams you don't know much about, so it is very important to play with the same identity we have had all year."



The T-Birds' opponent for the quarter-finals, the Dalhousie Tigers, are hosting nationals for the first time since 1996. The Tigers have won three U SPORTS championships in their history, most recently in 2000. The Thunderbirds and Tigers played each other in back-to-back national finals in 1993 and 1994, with each team winning once. The two programs have no recent history against each other.

Dalhousie finished 5-4-3 in the regular season, before falling to Memorial in the first round of the AUS playoffs. They enter nationals as the #8 seed, led by AUS First Team All-Star Elise Evans.   

Kick-off for UBC's quarter-final matchup is set for 1:00 p.m. (PT) on Thursday. Should the T-Birds win, they'll face either Cape Breton or Nipissing in the semi-finals on Friday.