VANCOUVER –
Zoelle Apps opened the scoring in the first half, and a trio of T-Birds added tallies in the second as UBC surged late to secure a 4-0 win against the Dalhousie Tigers on the second day of the U SPORTS National Championship.
"Yesterday still hurts. We felt coming in, we were ready to go and compete", began UBC head coach
Jesse Symons. "This will be the seventh year in a row that we'll play in a championship on a Sunday for U SPORTS, so it just shows the character and pride of our team."
Each side traded quality chances throughout the first quarter of the match but were met with sound defence in the final third of the field. That changed in the 21st minute, when Apps headed home the game's opening goal from close range off a pinpoint corner from
Shaden Al-Asad.
Coming out of halftime, the 'Birds looked to pour on the pressure and were rewarded as the clock passed the 70-minute mark. Apps launched a beautiful through ball that soared 50 yards upfield before catching
Jayda Thompson on the right side at full sprint. Blowing past a defender to find space, Thompson sent a pass through the box and found
Nina Rhode, who just needed a tap-in to double the T-Bird lead.
Sophia Ferreira followed with a tally of her own less than three minutes later, as the fifth-year defender leaped near the right post to head home a cross from
Felicia Hanisch for another score.
But the 'Birds weren't done there, as
Maddy Norman chased down a rebound bouncing on the goal line and tapped in her second goal in as many days to inflate the UBC lead to 4-0 in the blink of an eye.
From there, the Tigers pushed for a response but couldn't find a breakthrough, ending the game with a 4-0 victory for the T-Birds.
"What a performance today", reflected coach Symons. "We got 21 players in; everyone was involved, which really shows the depth of our roster and the future we have for our program going forward."
With the victory, UBC will now suit up for the fifth-place match on Sunday, November 15, at 10:00 a.m. against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees at Thunderbird Stadium.
