TORONTO – The UBC Thunderbirds played a solid 90 minutes for the second straight game to defeat the tournament host Toronto Varsity Blues 2-1 in the U SPORTS National Championship Consolation Final Saturday night at Varsity Stadium.
Kyle Dent, playing in his final game for the blue and gold got the breakthrough in the 56
th minute while
Henri Godbout tacked on what would stand as the game winner just seven minutes later.
Roko Vukic saw his first action at the U SPORTS tournament playing the opening 45 minutes while rookie keeper
Hayden Franks took over for the second half in his first action of his U SPORTS career.
"I'm super proud of the guys for their performances, the way they approached the games," said UBC head coach,
Mike Mosher, on the character shown by the T-Birds in the consolation bracket the last two days. "We're going to play the games regardless, so let's go and be good. We brought 22 players here and all 22 got themselves on the field over the course of the three games. It meant a lot of fresh bodies in there for today's game and the quality – we didn't skip a beat, I thought we were really, really good. I was really happy with the performance and again, just how the guys approached the game was excellent."
The T-Birds had their share of opportunities in the opening half including a pair of shot from Godbout who was also robbed on his own rebound by Toronto keeper Charles Donvito.
After the restart,
Asvin Chauhan was denied from close range in the 56
th, Alex Lin, who replaced Donvito for the second half, making the save but setting up a UBC corner.
Nicolas Nadeau curled the ball deep into the box where it was headed in by Dent for the first goal of the game.
Just seven minutes later the 'Birds doubled their lead with Godbout's first of the tournament. Chauhan's attempt for goal was blocked but Godbout was quick onto the rebound and nicked the ball with his outstretched right foot.
The Varsity Blues on the board in the 90
th, a cross sent in toward the left side of the box by Mehdi Essoussi finding Michael Osorio so finished with his second of the tournament.
But an otherwise stellar performance by the T-Birds was simply too much for Toronto to handle, UBC ending not with the win they hoped for this weekend but will now leave southern Ontario without at least as bitter a taste in their mouths.
"The first half, we did a lot of good things, we owned the ball and as the half went on we opened them up, we got to some great spots," Mosher added. "We were deserved of a goal or two in the first half, just some poor finishing on our part where we got to the spot and then missed the target. It's not the game or the games that we wanted to be playing in but I'm just really pleased in terms of the character they showed over the last couple days.
"These guys all put in a shift and as a head coach and as a staff we want to respect that. And we trust them. Hayden's a good goalkeeper and good to get him his first minutes. We got confidence in him. A guy like (
Marcus Puhalj), he's put in a five year shift in the program and he deserves to wear the arm band in his last game, so I'm really pleased for him."
The focus for the winningest side in U SPORTS championship history will quickly turn to next season and a bid to enter next year's national tournament which will be played much closer to home for the 'Birds, 2026 set to be hosted by the University of Victoria.
