VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds made it a perfect 10 in their quest to win back-to-back U SPORTS men's soccer championships, seeing off the visiting UBC Okanagan Heat 5-0 at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday evening.
 
It was a dominant performance for UBC from start to finish and after they got the early breakthrough through Joven Mann just five minutes in, the result never looked in doubt. Luke Norman added a second in the 26th minute, before two goals in a two-minute spell midway through the second half from Markus Rukavina and Asvin Chauhan saw the Thunderbirds rewarded for their pressure. Oliver Herbert rounded off the scoring with five minutes remaining.
 
The victory saw UBC move to a 10-0 record for the season, keeping their fifth clean sheet of the campaign in the process. This is only the second time the T-Birds have ever started a season 10-0, along with the 1986 campaign (when the regular season was only 10 games long).


 
"We were better today than we were yesterday, five-nil, with fairly solid performances," UBC head coach Mike Mosher said after the match. "The one thing we said at half time is that we need to take more of our chances because you're going to get into tight games as we go forward and there's going to be one-goal games.
 
"There's a lot of games this year where I think we've squandered opportunities. Opportunities to thus kill off games. We were two at half time and probably should have been double that. We challenged them to come out and get some more goals, then we get three but probably left two or three on the table. I just want to see us take more of the chances that we create."
 
UBC were on the front foot again from the off and took the lead with just five minutes on the clock when Mann forced a turnover on the edge of the Heat box, cut inside to make room for the shot, and fired a low curler past Tyson Gugushe into the far corner.
 
Mann had another couple of looks on goal for the Thunderbirds before the Heat had their first chance of the game when Gavin La Montagne fired over from the edge of the box in the 22nd minute.
 
UBC grabbed their second in the 26th minute when UBCO failed to clear their lines and Henri Godbout cut the ball back for Norman to finish with aplomb.
 
Gugushe produced a number of saves to keep the score down, while his counterpart at the other end, Roko Vukic, produced a superb diving save to turn away a Carter Brown strike six minutes before half time.


 
UBCO changed their keeper at the half and Ronan Woodroffe was called into immediate action, denying Herbert just 36 seconds after the restart. Mann flashed one inches past the far post minutes later as UBC pushed hard to add to their tally.
 
The Heat came close to pulling one back in the 53rd minute when Dario Fedele slipped in behind to meet a perfectly timed pass, but Vukic was quickly off his line to block the effort.
 
UBC's attack then exploded midway through the second half with two goals in two minutes.
 
First, Max Comsia forced a turnover 25 yards out, allowing Norman to play in Rukavina, and the rookie showed excellent footwork in the box to round the keeper and tuck away the Thunderbirds third in the 65th minute.
 
Chauhan then made it four just 25 seconds after coming on the pitch after Comsia showed some great skill in the box to set him up. Chauhan turned provider in the 85th minute, laying the ball off for Herbert to drill a low one past Woodroffe to make it 5-0 to the Thunderbirds.
 
Rukavina almost made it six with the last kick of the game, but was denied at point blank range from Woodroffe.
 
UBC head on the road next weekend, with a pair of short trips to take on Trinity Western Spartans on Friday night and the University of Fraser Valley Cascades on Sunday afternoon. UBCO head back to Kelowna next weekend for a pair of matches at home to the UNBC Timberwolves.
 
With five of their remaining six games on the road to see out the regular season, it's a test of his squad that Mosher is relishing before the postseason begins.
 
"We've put ourselves in a very good place as we go into those last six games," Mosher added. "We'll use those games a good preparation for the biggest games ahead, for the playoffs. We're getting close."