CALGARY – For the third consecutive season, the UBC Thunderbirds and Mount Royal Cougars faced off in the Canada West Final.
 
After MRU won the 2023 banner in Calgary, and UBC took the 2024 matchup in Vancouver, the home team again prevailed as the Cougars can call themselves the 2025 Canada West champions.
 
While the 'Birds got on the board first, the Cougars had the last laugh as first-year standout Chanan Chanda scored the winning goal deep into second half stoppage time.
 
Rewinding all the way to the opposite end of the match, Finn Marshall nearly got the home crowd on its feet just 30 seconds after the opening kick, as he attacked a dangerous ball played to the back post. While he was on a very tight angle, he managed to snap a powerful shot towards the UBC goal that was fought off by Jack Garner.
 
The T-Birds responded, and they opened the scoring less than five minutes in when Markus Kaiser put a cross into the box. It landed at the feet of Theo Afework, and while his first touch took him slightly away from goal, he recovered beautifully with a half-volley finish that nestled into the bottom corner.


 
After conceding, the Cougars began to carry more of the play as the first half went along. Garner came up big again in the 11th minute, as he got down quickly to a spinning shot from Marshall on the second phase of a free kick. They finally got their breakthrough about 15 minutes later, on a bit of a chaotic sequence.
 
With the ball whipped in on a corner, Alex Kemsley headed it towards goal, straight towards his teammate Ruben Koudelka who was parked at the edge of the six-yard box. Koudelka flicked it on with his own head and the ball went off the crossbar, off the back foot of Garner and then bounced agonizingly slowly over the line with multiple bodies trying to crash down to get it.
 
The T-Birds had a great opportunity in the 38th minute, when Henri Godbout flashed a pass across the face of goal that Max Comsia was inches away from tapping into the net, but he just couldn't stretch out his leg in time.
 
The two teams thus entered the halftime break deadlocked. The second set of 45 minutes started slower than the first, with neither team able to carve out many clearcut scoring chances. The next big opportunity came for Chanda, who flashed a shot to the near post from inside the box that was punched away with a strong arm by Garner.


 
Eric Lajeunesse then came up huge for UBC, making a last-ditch slide to block a deflect from Luka Patik who thought he was through clear on goal. The Canada West Defender of the Year took enough heat off the shot for Garner to be able to stop it, and the 'keeper stopped the rebound effort too, making his seventh save of the game.
 
As the T-Birds continued to defend well, it seemed like the game was destined to go to extra time. But then in stoppage time, the 'Birds were finally undone. After Joshua Flaksman found his way in a dangerous spot in the box along the end line, he chipped the ball to the back post where Chanda found himself completely unmarked, and a simple header was all it took for the Cougars to claim the title.
 
While they'll be disappointed with the timing of their first loss of the season, the Thunderbirds will be right back in action next week in Toronto at the U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship. The T-Birds will aim to be the first team since York in 2014 and 2015 to win back-to-back national titles.