VANCOUVER, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds (2-0-0) made it two wins from two to kick off the defence of their Canada West and U SPORTS women's soccer titles, after securing a 1-0 victory over Trinity Western Spartans (1-1-0) at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday.
The matchup between the fierce rivals is always an eagerly anticipated encounter and the teams' first meeting of 2025 didn't disappoint.
Ella Sunde's second headed goal of the season saw UBC take a narrow lead into the half and that proved to be the only goal of the game. An important victory that left UBC head coach
Jesse Symons delighted with the start his injury-hit side have had to the new season.
"Really happy to get six points and two shutouts, what a weekend for us to start at home," Symons said after the game. "We're right where we want to be. Really proud of our back four. I can't say enough about our full backs right now,
Sophie Harrison and
Ella Sunde, they're showing they're two of the top class players in the league."
It was a fast-paced first half that saw Trinity Western start the game on the front foot before UBC took control.
Ava Alexander saw a 13th minute effort cleared off the line before
Sienna Gibson fired a fierce shot just past the left post six minutes later.
Jayda Thompson's pace was causing the Spartans all sorts of problems and she raced in on goal in the 33rd minute, but TWU keeper Yasmine Pahal came up with a big save.
UBC found their breakthrough in the 38th minute when Sunde superbly met a
Sophie Harrison free kick and she headed home her second goal of the year, as the English rookie grabbed her second assist.
Both teams had chances in stoppage time, with Rhianna MacDonald firing home an Erin Stewart free kick, but from an offside position, with UBC responding when Sunde fired over from a corner with the last kick of the half.
Clear cut chances were at a premium in the second half, with the two best chances falling to UBC, with
Hannah Bains firing into the side netting and a Sunde header bouncing up and onto the bar.
Trinity Western turned up the pressure in the closing minutes but couldn't find a way through and went down to their first loss of the new campaign, as UBC extended their winning run to 25 matches, a streak going back to 2023.
"To shut out a team like that today was impressive," Symons added. "They had a lot of set pieces that I thought we managed well. They've got some good players in the air and some great service. Full credit to the team to fight through. The second half won't be anyone's favourite to watch possibly, but it was a needed performance to get the result."
UBC head on the road next week when they travel to Kamloops on Friday to take on Thompson Rivers University in the first of four straight away games. Trinity Western have a bye next weekend and won't be back in action until they travel to Kelowna to take on the UBCO Heat on September 5th.
