TORONTO – The UBC Thunderbirds' quest to repeat as U SPORTS champions fell short Thursday afternoon in Toronto as the blue and gold ended up on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision in their quarter-final matchup with the Montreal Carabins at Varsity Stadium.

In a battle absolutely fitting for another national final – which the two sides did one year ago nearly to the day – Thursday's quarter-final saw two of the country's most talented sides put on a show. While the T-Birds had the stronger second half, strong Montreal defensive play and a rebound goal for the Carabins in the 74^th minute was enough to tilt the result in the RSEQ champions' favour while the T-Birds will now play on the relegation side for the first time since 2021.

"It was always going to be a battle, a flat out battle and it would come down to who could take the chances and win the little wars along the way. There really was not a lot to give, there wasn't a lot of chances of course either way and they get the one chance there in the second half – it's what it is," said UBC head coach, Mike Mosher. "Very much as expected, super tight, two good teams cancelling each other out in a lot of moments."



Tied 1-1 at halftime, Orene Cohen's goal with 16 minutes remaining led to a frenetic pace thereafter with UBC pressing hard and Montreal mostly on their heels.

An Henri Godbout strike in the 80th minute was stopped by Montreal keeper Joakim Milli with Max Comsia hammering the rebound off the underside of the crossbar but back out again.

In the dying moments of stoppage time, a terrific close range diving header by Joven Mann off a Luke Norman cross was saved by Milli, one of his seven stops in the match, while the rebound was headed towards the far post by Henri Godbout before being deflected wide.



"At the end of the day, you can't fault their effort," said Mosher, proud of his side's performance on the day. "Everybody that went out there did everything they could right to the end. Their keeper made a good save, we almost pinched one with a good cross in an opportunity to perhaps tie the game and go into extra time, and that's all you can ask. It was always going to be a very difficult game, it's unfortunate we had to play each other in the first game but that's beyond our control.

"I'm super proud of the players for going and battling right to the end. A guy like Markus Kaiser, he's a right back and it's like six minutes to go in the game and he's making a run down the left wing. He's just doing everything that he possibly can to try to pull us back into level but that's what a captain does, that's what a leader does."

For a game that saw the two sides go toe-to-toe throughout without much by way of scoring opportunities, both goals in the first half came just two minutes apart.

Maxime Filion's one touch kick off a cross sent the ball careening into the net in the 19^th minute.

The T-Birds countered to get level in the 21^st when Luke Norman settled a ping-ponging ball in a crowded box. His shot was blocked, only to have Theo Afework slam it home.
 

?? MSOC | Theo Afework responded just moments after Montreal took the lead and the T-Birds and Carabins are tied up 1-1 heading to the second half of the U SPORTS quarter-final! #GoBirdsGo ?? pic.twitter.com/rcBi20dz8b

— UBC Thunderbirds (@ubctbirds) November 6, 2025

But the blue and gold weren't able to get another despite the flurry of second half chances.

As such, UBC will now face the Dalhousie Tigers in a consolation semifinal Friday after the AUS Champions were defeated 5-1 by the York Lions.

"You fall off your bicycle, get back on and go. It can help to perhaps ease a little bit of the pain, the disappointment that the guys are feeling at this stage of the game," said Mosher of the need to eventually turn the page to continue battling despite the prospect of a repeat championship now no longer in the cards. "Today's obviously a big low but we got to pick ourselves up off the mat and start to heal a little bit come tomorrow. We'll do just that. I think we need several hours to sort of absorb and analyze but I'm confident in this group that they will pick themselves up off the mat and do themselves and the program proud."

Kickoff between the T-Birds and Tigers is set for 11:00 a.m. ET/8:00 a.m. PT at Varsity Stadium. The game will be available live on CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca and CBC Sports' YouTube channel.