OSHAWA, Ont. – The No.1-seed UBC Thunderbirds took care of business against the No.8-seed UNB Reds, winning 4-2 in their U SPORTS quarter-final match at the national championships. The victory sends the T-Birds to the national semifinals for the third consecutive year, where they will take on either the McGill Redmen or the host Ontario Tech Ridgebacks at 4:00 p.m. (PT) on Friday.
The T-Birds were powered by the play of two first-years, as
Joven Mann score two first half goals and
Henri Godbout added two second half markers to lead the blue and gold to victory.
Luke Norman set up both of Mann's tallies beautifully, while
Oliver Herbert created the play that led to Herbert's first goal.
"Credit to UNB, they came out and they wanted to play and they wanted to press us," commented UBC head coach
Mike Mosher, after the match. "They came for a fight and made it clear that if they were going to go down, they were going to go down swinging. It made for a battle and an entertaining game for fans with the six goals.
"There were moments in the game, in the first half in particular where I thought we could have and should have been better. But once we started to take a bit more of what they were giving us, we started to really create opportunities and more goals came."
It did not take long for the 'Birds to get on the board, as Mann's first goal came in the fifth minute. Norman corralled the ball just outside of the 18-yard box, cut to the left of two Reds to end up just wide of the top left corner of the six-yard box, before stopping on a dime, spinning, and firing a low cross holding off a UNB defender on his hip. The ball found Mann hovering in the center of the penalty area. He deftly knocked it down with one touch and calmly bounced a low shot just inside the left post with the next, putting the T-Birds up 1-0.
The goal appeared deflating for the Reds as the 'Birds dominated possession for the next 30 minutes of the match, consistently putting pressure on the AUS finalists, but unable to break through again. It was the Reds who found the back of the net next, as an innocent looking ball into the 'Birds' box from a long way away bounced around among several players before finding the foot of Stefano D'Ambrogio, who banged it in from point blank range in the 40
th minute.
With chests suddenly tight among fans of the heavily favoured T-Birds, Mann quickly gave them a reason to relax again. Norman did even more of the work for him this time around, as, less than two minutes after the match was tied, the midfielder found space and came streaking down the right side of the pitch with the ball on his foot. Just as the last two Reds defenders veered toward him to cut him off, Norman threaded a picturesque through-ball past both of them, and just out of the reach of the keeper, to give Mann an easy tap-in at the left post.
The UBC lead lasted until half-time and the 'Birds added to it just five minutes out of the break.
Oliver Herbert won the ball on the UNB side of half and, seeing no one in front of him, went on a run. He curled his way toward the left corner of the 18-yard box before meeting resistance, at which point he slid a pass to his right, spinning the ball slightly back toward the top of the penalty area. The crucial play on this goal, which will not show up on the box score, was made, once again, by
Luke Norman. In an Oscar-worthy performance, the midfielder lunged toward the ball as it approached him, freezing the Reds defender in front of him as he prepared to block the midfielder's shot. Except, Norman's foot passed right over the ball, letting it go, untouched, to Godbout, and completely catching the Reds' defence off-guard.
Godbout, the Canada West Rookie of the Year and U SPORTS Rookie of the Year finalist, then showed the pure scoring skills that makes him so special. With a UNB defender squared up in front of him, the first-year took a quick step forward, stopped short, tapped the ball back toward him with the inside of his right foot and then in the same motion flicked it forward again while accelerating along with it. The Reds defender was frozen by the quick move and could only offer a late standing tackle, which Godbout deftly avoided as he stepped around him. The forward then strode in toward the top right corner of the six-yard box with only the goalie to beat. As the keeper came out to cut off his angle, Godbout, without looking up, hammered a shot over him and into the top left portion of the net. A spectacular goal, with all three T-Birds playing their parts to perfection.
In the 58
th minute, UBC put the game away for good, and it was Godbout who sealed it. The sensational rookie won a foot race for a ball lobbed into the UNB half, with only one Reds defender back to challenge him, as the AUS school was going all out to score. Godbout corralled the ball and kept the defender a half step behind him until he reached the 18-yard box, when it appeared that the UNB player had decided he was going to take Godbout down and live with the consequences. With his jersey being tugged from behind, and the keeper charging toward him, poised first-year calmly chipped the ball over the keeper and under the crossbar before tumbling to the ground.
The Reds would go on to score on a header off of a lovely cross in the 80
th minute, but the T-Birds lead never felt threatened, and they would go on to win 4-2.
"There are some areas that can be better, without a doubt, going forward. We're going to have to be better in some regards," reflected Mosher.
"As I said to the guys after the game, the temperature goes up, the level of difficulty goes up with each passing game and we can't afford mistake, and I think we made a few today despite scoring four goals.
"Good to get a win and we can come away saying we can still be better. There are areas that we can cleanup and we'll have to if we want to win this tournament."
The T-Birds semifinal against McGill or Ontario Tech will be streamed live on CBC Gem and on the CBC Sports Youtube channel.
