VANCOUVER – UBC Thunderbirds continued their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought 4-1 win over the UBCO Heat at Ken Woods Field on Friday evening.
A Henri Godbout double had put UBC in control of the match, after UBCO's Gavin La Montagne had cancelled out his 4th-minute goal that had given the Thunderbirds the early lead. Second-half goals from Lukas Dasovic and Sebastian Agerskov secured the points for UBC and sent UBCO to their fifth straight loss to start the season.
"4-1 was maybe not indicative of the game," UBC head coach Mike Mosher said after the match. "It was done in perhaps the last 10 minutes or so. It took us a while to get that second goal, and then the third ended it. It was harder work than we might have hoped.
"From a fast tempo point, that's what we want to have. We want to have the ball, we want to play quickly, we want to get forward quickly where and when we can."
The first half was played at breakneck speed by both teams, with UBC coming out of the blocks fast and taking the game to the visitors from the get-go.
Their pressure got the breakthrough with just four minutes on the clock when Godbout curled one in off the bar from the edge of the box.
The Thunderbirds' lead was only to last until the 15th minute when the Heat tied things up on a quick counter as La Montagne had time to compose himself and beat Jack Garner.
Brennan Fuerst and Eric Kim had chances for UBC, but neither team could add to the scoreline before the break.
UBC continued the high tempo to start the second half but found Heat goalkeeper Ronan Woodroffe in excellent form as he denied Markus Rukavina with a point-blank save in the 52nd minute when the striker was played in on goal.
Godbout restored the Thunderbird's lead in the 58th minute, firing home from a tight angle at the back post.
UBC kept pushing, and Woodruffe produced two big stops in a minute to deny Max Comsia just past the hour mark.
The Thunderbirds weren't to be denied their third, as a rebound off the bar fell perfectly for Dasovic to finish from close range in the 69th minute, before Agerskov wrapped up the victory with a fourth in the 89th minute.
UBC return to action on Saturday evening when they take on the visiting University of Victoria Vikes at Thunderbird Stadium. Kick-off is 7.30 p.m.
