For the first time since 2014, the UBC Thunderbirds enter the Canada West Men's Soccer season as defending national champions. But one thing that remains constant going back much further is the goal for the new campaign: to win yet another Canada West title and take a run at what would now be a 15^th U SPORTS crown.

As the calendar turned to 2025, the program lost several key pieces of its championship winning squad, most notably goalkeeper Bennett McKay and defenders Chris Lee and Noah Hrdlicka. But given the depth both in the team's returning veterans and top notch recruit class, there is every reason to expect UBC to once again be talked about as a contender.

"I think where we've been very successful over the last many years is that we've always got good depth so if injuries come up, we can make changes," said UBC head coach, Mike Mosher, who enters his 30^th season at the T-Birds' helm. "More often than not we've got the next players who are waiting in the wings and quite often are already within the cohort and ready for their chance. I think that is the case once again this year."

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Following a largely successful pre-season, the T-Birds are also now back to full complement with the return of fourth-year defender Eric Lajeunesse, defending Canada West Rookie of the Year Henri Godbout and championship MVP Joven Mann, all of whom spent the summer in the CPL.

"Eric is a top player in U SPORTS, period. Having done what he has over three summers playing with Pacific, the last two years he's played a lot and has been a really solid defender for them," Mosher said of his all-star defender. "He's a good player and he's back with us because he wants to finish his degree. He's a smart guy and he's taking advantage of the U SPORTS development opportunity. So he comes back in, it's his fourth year and as a top player in U SPORTS, now we look upon him to be a real leader within the group.

"Henri played a lot this past summer and so what can he do now for his second season and what can he bring to the group beyond being a good player, using the experiences he's had? Joven is the same. The hope is they're all going to be high-impact players."

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Adding to the returning veterans is yet another outstanding recruit class representing some of the very best talent available from across the country.

"Theo Afework comes in and he's been in very good environments like the Whitecaps Academy and in Germany and with York United. He's a little bit older versus some of the younger guys like Cameron Hajdu from Whitecaps Academy who's had a good pre-season. Nico Nadeau comes in and we were hopeful of what we had and he's been very good through the early days. Markus Rukavina isn't a new player but it's nice to see he's recovering very well from injury because he was really starting to blossom last year when he got hurt and then was out for quite some time. There are a lot of good pieces."

Rookie forward Josiah Walter, midfielder Sebastian Agerskov and transfer mid Lars Gierull also notably have been added to the T-Birds' 2025 squad.

Hosting Fraser Valley for the season opener on Friday night sets up a rematch from last year's Canada West semifinal in which the T-Birds needed a pair of goals from Lajeunesse in extra time to get past their regional rivals. No doubt the Cascades will be hungry for redemption and eager to spoil UBC's party.



"Fraser Valley pushed us to the limit last year…and I think they'll be better, so we got a tough one on our hands day one. They always play us tough."

The back half of the home opening weekend Saturday also features a key regional rivalry with the Trinity Western Spartans with six massive points up for grabs right off the hop.

"It's like a broken record and it's cliché, but there are no easy games. Our division of seven teams, there's no harder division in the country. The bottom team can take points off the top team on any given day, and that's the sign of a good division, and we have that."

Kickoff for the 2025 Canada West campaign against the Cascades is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, August 22 at Thunderbird Stadium. Saturday's battle with the Spartans also features a 7:30 p.m. start. Tickets for both are available online now and both games will be streamed live on Canada West TV.