The University of British Columbia Athletics

Seasons with UBC: 9
Overall record: 134-30-21
Conference record: 82-13-15
Canada West Playoff record: 21-6
U SPORTS Championship record: 14-4

• U SPORTS National Championships: 2019, '23, '24
• U SPORTS Silver Medal: 2016
• Canada West Championships: 2016, '22, '24
• Canada West Silver (2019, '21, '23), Bronze (2017)
• U SPORTS Coach of the Year: 2024
• Canada West Coach of the Year: 2023, '24

Jesse Symons is entering his 10th season as UBC Women's Soccer head coach, and continues to build on his already impressive legacy with the program.
 

2024-25:

It's impossible to have a better season than the Thunderbirds did in 2024-25, as they went a perfect 20-0 across all competitions, winning both Canada West and U SPORTS gold while outscoring their opponents 69-4 over the course of the year. After ripping through the Canada West regular season, the T-Birds dispatched Alberta 7-0, Trinity Western 1-0 and Victoria 3-0 to win their second conference championship in the last three seasons. UBC then flew out to Halifax for nationals, where they again did not concede a single goal in their three games. After defeating hosts Dalhousie 4-0 it was consecutive 1-0 wins over Cape Breton and Laval, the latter coming exactly two years to the day after the Rouge et Or knocked the T-Birds out of medal contention at the 2022 nationals.

The T-Birds finished the 2023-24 season with the eighth national championship in school history, and the second during Symons' tenure. His team finished the regular season 13-1 for the second consecutive year. Despite losing to Trinity Western on penalty kicks in the Canada West Final, the Thunderbirds bounced back to beat Ottawa, Montreal and then Trinity Western in three straight 1-0 victories to earn the school's eighth national banner (a Canadian record). The T-Birds were defensively dominant all year, conceding just six goals in 20 games across the regular season and playoffs.

Jesse Symons' crew ended the 2022-23 regular season with a record of 13-1. Victories against Regina, Calgary and Trinity Western would follow during the Canada West playoffs to help the program secure their 16th Canada West crown. The magical run for the 'Birds came to an end in the quarterfinals of the 2022 National Championships in Laval where the hosts defeated UBC in penalty kicks. UBC responded in the best way possible, and earned back-to-back wins in order to finish fifth at the event. 

In 2021-2022, coming off a year that saw the program play only a handful of games due to Covid-19, the T-Birds showcased their determination to get back on track with their 12-4-2 overall record, and dominant 9-1-2 conference record. UBC fell in the Canada West Final to Trinity Western in a close 1-0 contest to earn silver. In the ultra-competitive U SPORTS Women's Soccer Championship, the T-Birds opened with a 1-1 (3-1 PK) win over Acadia but were edged in overtime against MacEwan. Their final match took extra time as the Laval Rouge et Or bested them 0-0 (3-1 PK). 

UBC was superb in winning all three matches at the 2019 U SPORTS national tournament via 1-0 shutouts. The T-Birds beat Montreal, Acadia, and Calgary at Victoria’s Centennial Stadium to extend their U SPORTS-best total of national titles to seven. Danielle Steer scored the game-winning goal in the final, and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. 

After a successful 8-2-4 Canada West regular season in 2019, UBC won three playoff games to advance to the league playoff final, where the team fell 1-0 to Calgary.

In 2018, the Thunderbirds went 10-3-1 in the Canada West, with Michelle Jang earning the conference’s Rookie of the Year award. UBC ultimately finished fourth in the Canada West playoffs.

Jasmin Dhanda’s Canada West and U SPORTS Player of the Year recognition highlighted the 2017 campaign, which saw the T-Birds go 9-2-3 in conference play, and 3-1 in the Canada West playoffs, resulting in a bronze medal.

Symons was named head coach in May 2016 and has added to the legacy of UBC Thunderbirds women’s soccer, the most successful university program in all of Canada. In Symons’ first season at UBC, the T-Birds went 6-3-5 and then went undefeated in four playoff games to claim their second-consecutive Canada West title with a 3-0 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans on their own turf.

At the 2016 U SPORTS Women’s Soccer Championship in Wolfville, N.S., the UBC advanced to the final by dispatching hosts Acadia in the quarter-final, and Queen’s in the semifinal, which went to penalty kicks. In the championship game, the T-Birds fell 2-1 to Laval to take home silver.

Symons, who is a certified Canadian Soccer Association coach, has a wealth of experience. Before UBC, his most recent position was as both technical director and Premier League head coach for the North Shore Girls’ Soccer Club. In this role, he was integral in entering the first-ever Canadian franchise in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, a 100-team organization based in the United States.

Prior to his time with the North Shore Girls’ Soccer Club, Symons served 10 years as the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club W-League team and Girls Elite program. Symons was an integral part of creating the Vancouver Whitecaps Elite REX program in 2015 helping work with the National team program / staff in building the pathway for high potential youth players in Canada.

He also holds the distinction of being the only coach to win two Canada Games national championships with Team BC, in 2009 and 2013. Symons has eight years of experience working with Provincial programs from 2002 – 2006, then 2009 and 2013.

He also served as the Head coach for the PCSL treble in 2013 against Northwest opposition from Oregon, Washington and BC.

Through his experience building championship-level programs in British Columbia, Symons has developed connections and contacts that have enabled him to continually attract this country’s top student-athletes to UBC.