VANCOUVER – The T-Birds kept their hopes for a Canada West title alive, defeating Calgary 3-0 in a must-win game while also celebrating this year's graduating senior class.
The talented quartet of
Birkley Anderson,
Kaia Cooper,
Thora Rae and
Mikayla Stelling played in their final U SPORTS game at Wright Field on Sunday, with all four of them having key roles in proceedings.
"We'll miss them for sure," said UBC head coach
Geoff Matthews on his fifth-year players. "They're really good leaders, really good role models. They've allowed the first-years to come in and express themselves with a supportive network."
Similar to the previous day, the T-Birds started out on the front foot and put plenty of pressure on the Calgary defence. The Dinos soaked it up well initially though, bending but not breaking in the early going.
Stelling had a good opportunity early off a well-worked penalty corner, but was unable to beat Madison Forest in the Calgary goal. Stelling did make good though on her second chance of the game, weaving her way through the Dinos backline and firing it home for her third goal of the weekend, 10 minutes into the game.
The visitors earned a couple penalty corners of their own late in the opening frame, including one with just a few seconds on the clock, but were unable to convert.
Continuing the trend of graduating players getting on the scoresheet, Anderson unleashed a powerful shot from a penalty corner that found the back of the net early in the second quarter. Rae then had a chance to take a shot at goal on a counter-attack very soon after, but instead unselfishly tried to dish it to
Kenzie Girgis, unfortunately the pass was just out of her reach.
The Dinos came out stronger to begin the third, holding more possession in the T-Birds' half of the field and creating a couple half-chances. They were unable to find the breakthrough, however, and the two teams entered the final quarter with the score still at 2-0.
The T-Birds added some insurance midway through the final frame, when a Girgis shot deflected high up into the air to the back post where
Hazel Taylor was waiting. The Calgary native expertly batted the ball down into the net to put a third on the scoreboard for her team.
The Dinos continued to fight until the final horn blew, forcing a good late save from
Pascale Pottier in the UBC goal as she tipped a shot from close range up over the crossbar. But despite the road team's efforts, the Thunderbirds held onto their shutout in the end.
"I think our work rate was better," remarked Matthews on the difference between Saturday and Sunday's games. "I thought yesterday we were a little bit static – we weren't moving off the ball really well, whereas today we were a bit more connected and the girls wanting to play off each other. And then I thought we scored some really good goals as well."
There are now just two games left in the Canada West season, when in two weeks' time the Thunderbirds travel Victoria to take on the UVic Vikes with the conference championship on the line.
The Vikes hold the advantage going into those games on October 18th and 19th, sporting a 5-0-1 record compared to 3-1-2 for UBC. The T-Birds need to take both games in regulation if they are to secure their first Canada West banner since 2017.
"It's playoff hockey now," said Matthews. "We're essentially looking at it as a semifinal and final, two must-win games for us. Of course, today was a must-win too so it was really good preparation to go through some things that we'll want to focus on."
SCORING SUMMARY
UBC –
Mikayla Stelling, FG, 10', 1-0 UBC
UBC –
Birkley Anderson, PC, 19', 2-0 UBC
UBC –
Hazel Taylor, FG, 52', 3-0 UBC
GOALKEEPERS
UBC –
Robyn Goh, 30MP, 0GA
UBC –
Pascale Pottier, 30MP, 0GA
CGY – Madison Forest, 60MP, 3GA
CARDS
UBC –
Olivia Okano, GC, 13'
CGY – Julia McDermott, GC, 14'
CGY – Nina Khalfan, GC, 33'
