Zach Conard, UBC Thunderbirds
VANCOUVER - The second Canada West semifinal match Friday night saw the host UBC Thunderbirds defeat the Thompson Rivers WolfPack 3-1 at Thunderbird Stadium.
UBC took no time to flex their offensive muscles through players like Zach Verhoven and Victory Shumbusho. The Thunderbirds showed dominance over the WolfPack from start to finish.
"There's been a few games of late where we've had poor energy, poor starts, so that was a real focus to get a good start today," UBC head coach Mike Mosher said. "It's a long ways home for them at 3-0 after 20 minutes. We were fortunate to get that lead today and get some players out so that we could be a little fresher physically tomorrow."
With the loss TRU will play in the bronze medal game Saturday night. The WolfPack have the luxury of hosting the U SPORTS national tournament, which means no matter the results in Vancouver they will take part in the tournament.
The Thunderbirds quickly pounced on the WolfPack with a goal from Manraj Bains after Verhoven's corner kick came down in front of the net. UBC's first goal of the game made it 1-0 in just the second minute.
In the 11th minute, UBC forward Kristian Yli-Hietanen and TRU keeper Lubomir Magdolen collided with one another at the ball. Shumbusho was there to handle the rebound and the 2017 Canada West rookie of the year hit a strike from the top of the box to increase the Thunderbirds lead to 2-0. Magdolen had to leave the match, to be replaced by Allan Connor.
Staying on their front foot, the Thunderbirds had a 3-0 lead by the 17th minute. Verhoven added an assist to his stat line, feeding a low cross to Mackenzie Cole who made sure to score the Thunderbirds third of the night.
The Wolfpack tested Chad Bush in the 28th when Josh Banton took a long shot that went high.
Patrick Izett stepped into the ball for a hard driven shot during the 37th minute that was deflected by Connor on a great diving save.
Late in the first half a decent WolfPack chance came from a long cross that found the head of James Fraser. The forward was able to get underneath the ball and guide it towards net, but Bush was there to flick it over the crossbar.
Scoring chances came few and far between in the second half. TRU continued to push forward despite the score line, getting off decent shots, but only one that could beat Bush.
Late in the game the WolfPack were finally able to get on the score sheet. In the 86th minute, Fraser managed to get through the Thunderbird defense before chipping Bush for the team's first goal of the game. Koffi Nyavor was awarded the assist as TRU lowered UBC's lead to 3-1.
"The second half the guys responded really well, so we can take that mindset and carry that through to tomorrow," said TRU head coach John Antulov. "The guys have been pretty resilient all year after losses so I expect them to come back and we'll probably use some players who haven't had much playing time over the last little bit, make sure they get in and get some playing time."
"We always put a focus upon coming first in the division so that we can play these big games at home. Traditionally we've been really tough to beat on this field," Mosher said of tomorrow's final." It's a small advantage, but I'm sure Trinity will be up for it tomorrow."
The Thunderbirds will next take on Trinity Western on Saturday night for the Canada West Championship at Thunderbird Stadium. The 8 p.m. contest will decide which squad will qualify for the U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship. The WolfPack will face Alberta at 5 p.m. PT on Ken Woods Field Saturday night in the bronze medal match.
PHOTO: Wilson Wong/UBC Thunderbirds