UBC Thunderbirds forward Max Comsia dribbling up the pitch, seen in the foreground of a fisheye wide angle shot capturing the full stands of Thunderbird Stadium behind him
Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds
0
Trinity Western TRINITY (1-2-0, 1-2-0)
1
Winner UBC UBC (3-0-0, 3-0-0)
Trinity Western TRINITY
(1-2-0, 1-2-0)
0
Final
1
UBC UBC
(3-0-0, 3-0-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Trinity Western TRINITY 0 0 0
UBC UBC 1 0 1

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Gideon Hill (UBC Communications)

UBC takes Jumpstart game over rival TWU at packed Thunderbird Stadium

VANCOUVER - The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (3-0-0) defeated the Trinity Western University Spartans (1-2-0) 1-0 in their 2026 Jumpstart Game on Wednesday night at Thunderbird Stadium, in front of a crowd of over 2,800 students. The annual event is part of orientation week at the campus for new students, helping welcome them to UBC prior to the start of their first year.

"The boys have been looking forward to this game for weeks and months, they were pumped for this game, and I thought they rose to the occasion in the first half" said UBC head coach Mike Mosher, when asked about the atmosphere of the game.

UBC Men's soccer player Brennen Fuerst dribbles the ball up the pitch, trailed by a Trinity Western Spartan. The play is seen from a wide angle with the two, and others further afield, framed by the nearly full grandstand of Thunderbird Stadium at dusk during the annual Jumpstart Game.

It was a dream start for the host Thunderbirds. Barely four minutes in, Yu-Hsuan Yuan took a great pass from Eric Kim and fired one towards the Spartans net. The ball was deflected off of two visiting defenders and found its way into the net for a quick 1-0 UBC lead.

The T-Birds kept their pouring on the offensive pressure for the majority of the first half, registering another great chance within minutes of collecting the opening goal.

Nicholas Nadeau cut in from the left wing and tested Jakob Frank with a stinging effort from 20 yards out, but the first-year Spartans keeper did well to parry it wide of the goal, with 15 minutes gone on the clock.

In the later stages of the first half, a Spartans counter-attack almost proved fruitful, as a shot from Elijah Bean tested UBC keeper Roko Vukic. However, the Thunderbirds keeper made a great save to keep his team ahead 1-0 in the 45th minute.
 


Trinity Western came out strong in the second half, as substitute Xander Roxburgh had his shot just miss over the bar from 10 yards out in the 49th minute.

Five minutes later, Spartans captain Jordan Low had his 25-yard effort saved by Vukic, who was excellent on the day.

UBC almost got their second towards the end of the match as Joshua Tomé was clean through on the Spartans net, but pulled his strike wide left, and it remained 1-0 heading into the final minutes of the game.

The home team was able to stave off late pressure from TWU and maintained their perfect start to the season with a third consecutive clean sheet.  

Yu-Hsuan Yuan is mobbed by teammates as they celebrate his first career goal as a Thunderbird, a 4th minute tally against the Trinity Western Spartans that stood as the only goal of the game in a 1-0 UBC win. A Spartans player is out of focus in the foreground on the right side of the frame

"I thought the Roko Vukic and the guys at the back were really good tonight", added Mosher. "Three wins, and three clean sheets is a real positive start to the year".

UBC now heads to Kelowna to take on the UBCO Heat on Friday, with the match set to start at 7:45 p.m. (PT) at Nonis Sports Field.  
 
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