WATERLOO, Ont. – The UBC Thunderbirds' first game at the U SPORTS Championship ended in a draw, as the T-Birds tied the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 1-1 in the first of their three round robin games.

The Canada West and OUA Champions were debatably the two favourites entering the tournament, and began the event with a hard-fought and evenly matched tie. Each scored early on, before battling it out in the midfield for most of the match.

First-year forward Amy Stelling had UBC's equalizing goal in the first quarter, while Canada West Goalkeeper of the Year Robyn Goh shut U of T out for 57 minutes after an early penalty stroke.



U of T struck first just three minutes in to the match. Awarded a penalty stroke on their first push in to the T-Birds zone, Vanessa Marques capitalized by snapping in a goal high to Goh's stick side.

The 'Birds' netminder was not on the hook for the loss, as the T-Birds quickly answered. Four minutes later, UBC pushed the ball up the left side of the pitch before newly named U SPORTS Rookie of the Year Mackenna Brown stopped short to buy herself some space. She turned and knocked the ball into the circle, finding fellow first-year Amy Stelling. Stelling then flashed fast hands and faster decision-making by quickly gathering the ball and deftly flicking it up and over the Varsity Blues goalkeeper Mary Yang to tie the game.



The T-Birds nearly took the lead early in the second quarter, when Sydney Le had a point blank opportunity off of a crisp UBC attack. Yang, the MVP of the OUA Championship, was able to rob her with her right pad for the best save of the day.

Play was deadlocked in the midfield for much of the second and third frames, until a turnover on an attempted clear late in the third led to a prime opportunity for the Varsity Blues. With the ball bouncing dangerously in UBC's circle, Goh made an aggressive and decisive move to come off of her line and kick it away before any U of T player could control it.



The fourth quarter belonged to the 'Birds, who clearly outplayed their opponent late in the match, but could not quite score.

Noor Hundal nearly gave UBC the lead with a great individual effort. She stole the ball, made a long run down the right side, and blasted a powerful reverse hit that went just over the bar.

The blue and gold kept pressing in the game's final moments, with Le having the ball bounce over her stick at point blank range with just over a minute to go. Hundal then ripped a shot that was redirected just wide off of a subsequent penalty corner. The teams settled for a tie.

Next up for the T-Birds is their second round robin game, where they will take on the host Waterloo Warriors at 4:30 (PCT) on Friday. Waterloo defeated the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers 4-0 in both teams' opening game of the tournament.