VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds got their Canada West season off to a winning start with a very hard fought 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the UBCO Heat at a wet and dreary Thunderbird Stadium on Friday evening.
Alex Sol's long range opener midway through the first half had seen the visitors go into the break with a one goal advantage and it was a lead they held until three minutes from time when Thomas Pena was brought down in the box.
Chris Lee stepped up and drilled home the resultant penalty to set up a pulsating finale.
Luke Norman then broke Heat hearts with a superb header two minutes into stoppage time and the Thunderbirds comeback was complete.
"We said at the half, we just have to keep grinding, keep grinding," Thunderbirds head coach
Mike Mosher mused after the match. "We had enough chances in the first half. If we kept doing what we'd been doing, something was going to come for us. Unfortunately it took as long as it did, but it did, and we keep pushing. We've got a team, in ours, that expects to win games. They expect to win.
"Even down one goal in the 80th minute, they expect to maybe not win, but to still get a result. For them, they're a young team, they're up a goal late in the game and it's challenging against a good team. I'll give them full credit. I knew they were going to be a decent opponent, but my goodness, the desperate challenges and the blocks that they made, but not just that, there was quality and fair play to them."
The Heat had almost came away with the perfect start just three minutes in when Tavin Williams superbly met a free kick in from the right, but his header crashed off the right post with
Bennett McKay rooted to his line in the Thunderbirds goal.
UBCO enjoyed the better of the play in the opening minutes before the hosts started to take control of the game, with
Joven Mann firing just wide, before
Max Comsia almost pounced on a rebound from Ronan Woodroffe after the Heat keeper spilled a long range shot from Brennan Fuerst.
It was the visitors who found the breakthrough in the 26th minute, however, coming against the run of play. It was another set piece that caused the Thunderbirds defence problems, this time from a corner, which broke to Sol just inside the box and his low efforts skipped through everyone and past McKay for the opener.
The teams exchanged chances, with Comsia coming within inches of tying things up in the 41st minute, but his shot to the back post went inches wide.
The second half was a cagey affair, with the Heat's defensive structure proving tough for the Thunderbirds to break down.
Henri Godbout saw a header from a corner cleared off the line just past the hour mark for UBC, with UBCO responding with an Aidan Synnuck shot across goal that didn't miss by much.
UBCO's defensive shape looked like it was going to prove too much for UBC to breakdown, but when Pena went down in the box in the 86th minute, everything changed.
Lee leveled things up from the spot and both teams pushed hard for a late winner.
It was to be the home side that got it two minutes into stoppage time when Godbout sent in a pinpoint cross from the right, which was met superbly by Norman, who headed past Woodruff and secured the dramatic late winner.
A tough one for UBCO, who now have a long trip to Victoria to take on the Vikes on Sunday afternoon. UBC will be back into action at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday evening, where they host the TRU Wolfpack with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.
Tickets are on sale through gothunderbirds.ca.
