KELOWNA – While the first half was tight, the second half certainly was not as the UBC Thunderbirds (4-0) continued their perfect start to the Canada West season.
The T-Birds peppered the UBC Okanagan Heat (0-2) relentlessly, recording 29 shot attempts with 14 of them on target. UBCO goalkeeper Ronan Woodroffe did his best between the sticks, making 10 saves including a couple spectacular ones early on, but he couldn't stop them all.
One that he did stop was a one-on-one chance for
Markus Rukavina in just the second minute, with the UBC forward unable to finish after having the ball bounce fortuitously to his feet off of a defender. Woodroffe then came up big once against in the 15th, robbing
Luke Norman of a goal when he got on the end of an early cross from
Cameron Hajdu.
When the T-Birds did finally find their breakthrough, it was Norman who was the provider rather than the finisher. After receiving a great ball down the sideline from
Henri Godbout, Norman quickly put the ball into the box for
Theo Afework. One of three first-years in the starting lineup (alongside Hajdu and
Nicolas Nadeau), Afework made no mistake for his first career UBC goal.
T-Birds keeper
Jack Garner was called into action very soon after, coming up with a nice save as the Heat were determined to get themselves back into things. They did just that in the 32nd, with Charlie Prefontaine tucking home a goal just four minutes after UBC had taken the lead.
While the score was tied at halftime, the floodgates certainly opened in the second period. Godbout got it going in the 49th, showing his fantastic footwork by chopping the ball inside at the top of the box and firing the shot back across to the near post where it nestled in the bottom corner.
Eric Lajeunesse made it three off a corner kick, getting himself to the right spot to fire home a rebound following a corner kick scramble. The final goal of the night came off a similar type of rebound as
Max Comsia bundled the ball over the line for his third goal of the season in the 76th minute.
After a successful pair of road games, the T-Birds will now have next weekend off before they play at home against Alberta on Friday, September 12th, and Saskatchewan on Sunday, September 14th.
