After a home-heavy start to the season, the UBC Thunderbirds showed they're just as hard to handle on the road with a 3-0 victory against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack. The win makes it a perfect seven for seven to begin the season, with four straight shutouts as well.
Jade Taylor-Ryan stole the scoresheet headlines in this one with a first half brace, while
Dakota Beckett and
Lita Billman each made two saves in goal for the T-Birds, as both goalkeepers played 45 minutes.
UBC put themselves in front in the 18th minute in quite the unique way. With
Nisa Reehal putting pressure on the TRU backline, a back-pass by a defender was hurriedly picked up by the keeper, and thus called as a foul by the referee.
This meant the Thunderbirds had an indirect free kick from inside the penalty box, with
Bailey Doerksen standing over it. The team-leader in goals played provider on this occasion, laying a simple pass across goal to Taylor-Ryan, who swept it into the bottom corner.
Fast forward to the 31st, and it was Reehal again causing trouble down the right flank. The veteran forward crossed the ball in to Taylor-Ryan, who was unable to control it initially but after the ball bounced around in the box she scooped it up, skillfully slid past her defender and placed her shot into the back of the net for the second time.
Up 2-0 at the break, the Thunderbirds kept the pressure on in the second half, forcing four saves out of TRU goalie Cassandra De Amaral with their repeated attacks.
Rookie
Olivia Gomez nearly scored an Olimpico (directly from a corner) in the 81st, but it was cleared off the line by a defender. Just a few minutes later though, it was a corner kick from the other side of the field that provided the insurance marker. This time,
Vanessa Tome whipped the ball in to the near post, where it went off the shoulder of
Ava Alexander and into the net. The Nanaimo native celebrated her second goal of the season, while the T-Birds celebrated wrapping up another three points.
After their trip to Kamloops the Thunderbirds head now to Kelowna, where they'll play UBC Okanagan on Saturday, September 28th, at 5:00 p.m. (PT). The Heat are the only team to have scored on UBC so far this season, notching two goals in a 3-2 loss to the Thunderbirds in Vancouver two weeks ago.
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