VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds continued their unbeaten start to the defence of the Canada West and U SPORTS men's soccer championships, moving to 9-0 following a hard-fought 2-0 victory over the visiting Thompson Rivers WolfPack (1-9-1) at Thunderbird Stadium Friday evening.
UBC scored early through a fantastic
Nicolas Nadeau free kick just three minutes in, but had to wait until three minutes into stoppage time to seal the deal, when
Oliver Herbert fired home their second.
The Thunderbirds controlled the game for large parts, but were second best for much of the last half hour and UBC head coach
Mike Mosher sees this as a good test and learning moment for his side as the playoffs fast approach.
"We're happy we've won the game, we've gotten the three points, we've pushed to 9 and 0 and kept a clean sheet, but there were disappointing moments," Mosher said after the match. "When you don't play well and win, there's a lot of learning moments in that performance, because if not for a huge save from Roko [Vukic] in the 90th minute, that's maybe 1-1."
"We'll consider ourselves fortunate to get the three points on the day and hopefully take some lessons from it."
UBC immediately took the game to the visitors and TRU goalkeeper Toran Rutherford was fortunate to just see a yellow card when he brought down
Theo Afework 25-yards from goal in the second minute.
Up stepped Nadeau who curled the ball into the bottom left corner and the Thunderbirds had the early breakthrough.
The WolfPack responded well and Ben Finley hit an effort high in the ninth minute.
UBC enjoyed the lion's share of the first half play, but they couldn't find a way through a well-organized Thompson Rivers backline to add to their tally, with a Rutherford save on Afework midway through the half the closest the Thunderbirds came.
Nadeau had a shot well saved by Rutherford to start the second half, but as UBC toiled, TRU got some confidence and had a string of chances just past the hour mark.
Lachlan Will had a shot saved by Vukic at the near post, before Will flashed one inches past the far post in the 62nd minute for the WolfPack.
Abdel Coulibaly had the next TRU chance, firing wide, before
Joven Mann came close to adding a second for UBC in the 69th minute.
Will and Coulibaly had a couple more looks on goal for the visitors, but the Thunderbirds finally got their second three minutes into stoppage time when
Markus Rukavina finished off a nice move by touching the ball inside for Herbert to fire low into the bottom corner.
Not a classic, but a big win for UBC and a good test for the team as they continue their weekend with a home match against the UBCO Heat on Saturday evening at Thunderbird Stadium with kickoff at 7:00 p.m. Thompson Rivers will head over to the Island for a match with the UVic Vikes on the same night.
Tickets for the T-Birds' lone home battle of the season against the Heat
are available online and the game will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
