VANCOUVER – Rest or rust? That question surfaces across all sports when a team returns to action following a bye week. For the Thunderbirds, they'll certainly be hoping that their early season weekend off doesn't dampen the momentum they had in the first two weeks of the Canada West season.
After that time away from game action, and settling into the school-time rhythm with the first classes of the year starting up, it's now games every week from now until the end of the season.
"I think for us, we were looking ahead to try and have continuity and continued success," said head coach
Mike Mosher on the team's mindset. "We had a good week of competitive, active sessions, and now we're back to the normal of getting ready for opponents and hopefully getting results on the weekends."
Sitting at 4-0 a quarter of the way through the regular season, the 'Birds are one of three undefeated teams in Canada West along with Victoria (4-0-2) and Mount Royal (4-0-1). It's just the second time in the last decade that the blue and gold have won their first four conference games of the season, and if they were to win on Friday it would be their longest season-opening win streak since 2014.
That Friday night clash is against the Alberta Golden Bears, a prairie foe who is off a 2-1-2 start to their season. Beginning at 7:00 p.m. (PT) at Ken Woods Field, that cross-division battle is also the UBC Men's Soccer alumni night, with many Thunderbirds from past years cheering on those presently wearing the crest.
Following that big night, the T-Birds take to Thunderbird Stadium at 1:00 p.m. (PT) on Sunday, September 14th, to face off against the Saskatchewan Huskies (0-3-1) who are searching for their first win of the year.
"It's always nice, these crossover weekends," remarked Mosher. "You get to see some different opponents that you don't see each and every year. Alberta had a very strong record and won their division last year; they've got some high-caliber players that we need to be aware of. We look forward to that challenge and we're not going to overlook Saskatchewan either who we did see last year at their place."
Offensively, the T-Birds are tied with the UFV Cascades for best goals per game average in the conference (2.75), led by
Max Comsia who has three goals in his first four games.
Fellow second-year attackers
Henri Godbout and
Markus Rukavina both have two goals and one assist each, as the 'Birds have had contributions across the board from younger players – of the 14 players who have seen more than 100 minutes of action, only three of them (
Markus Kaiser,
Eric Lajeunesse and
Marcus Puhalj) are in their fourth or fifth years of eligibility.
The centre-back pair of Lajeunesse and Puhalj has been pivotal, with the two of them having played every minute so far this year (as has goalkeeper
Jack Garner). That trio forms the base of a defence that has allowed just three goals to this point, tied for the second-best mark in the conference.
The T-Birds will hope to continue that strong run of play on their alumni night, with plenty of former UBC athletes on hand including members of multiple U SPORTS national championship-winning teams.
"It's a special one," said Mosher on Friday's game. "We're going to honour three different teams, going all the way back to 1974 and the first UBC team to have won [the national championship], and I think they're going to have some decent representation out on Friday night.
"And then of course the 1985 team and their 40 years, and the 2005 team and their 20 years…I think and hope that those guys will be able to enjoy and see some quality action and some goals from the home team."
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