Wilson Wong/UBC Thunderbirds
VANCOUVER – A spirited Canada West men's soccer game ended 2-0 in favour of the seventh-ranked UBC Thunderbirds over the visiting Thompson Rivers WolfPack Friday night in Vancouver.
It was a rematch of the U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship bronze-medal game last November, which went to the hosts TRU.
On Friday, the T-Birds went ahead on an own goal by the WolfPack in the 32nd minute before Thomas Gardner scored his first U SPORTS and Canada West regular season marker in the 53rd.
"It certainly wasn't an oil painting but every game presents different challenges," remarked UBC head coach Mike Mosher. "They're (Thompson Rivers) a tough team to play, they're big, physical and talented but I think we matched them in that regard and then some and then a little bit of quality came out. Two set-piece goals, good delivery by Tommy on the first one, that's a tough ball to defend and it ends up in their goal. It was a good strike by Tom on the one it knuckled and then skipped off the turf on the second goal. Every game is a little bit different but we feel that however that game unfolds, we have the players to go and win it."
In the first half, Gardner was tackled by Jan Pirretas Glasmacher, drawing a foul and a yellow card. On the ensuing free kick, Gardner sent the ball into the penalty area just outside the six-yard box and it was inadvertently headed into the net by a TRU defender to give the hosts the lead in the 32nd minute.
The WolfPack's best opportunity in the first half came early. Reigning Canada West Player of the Year Mitchell Popadynetz hit a 20-yard strike that forced UBC goalkeeper Jason Roberts to make a save in the fourth minute.
Gardner doubled the lead for the home side, scoring on a free kick in the 53rd minute. From 32 yards out, he placed the ball just inside the goalpost on one bounce to the left of a diving TRU goalkeeper Alex Ram.
"The boys won a good free kick at the top of the box and I saw the goalie was cheating and I just put it far side," he said. "Especially in the type of game like this, they (TRU) play solid defensively so those set pieces are the best ways to get to the goal and we capitalized on them."
TRU had a chance to break the shutout at the end of the 60th minute, as defender Levi Andoh got his head onto the end of a free kick inside the six-yard box, but Roberts was in position to catch the shot. The WolfPack got two late corner kicks but could not find the back of the net before the final whistle.
"We preached last week about clean sheets and could we go and do again what we did last week in terms of stifling what they'd throw at us in attack and I thought we did so I'm happy to see we're beginning to get some consistency in that regard," said Mosher. "We know that we have enough quality to create to score goals but can we keep things tight defensively to make teams earn whatever they're going to get against us, so that was a real positive."
Roberts made two stops in the opening half, and one in the second, to earn his second clean sheet of the season, and improve to 2-0-1.
"If we're solid defensively, then we can be solid on attack as well," said Gardner. "Mike's been getting on us about getting clean sheets and so far, it's been working out so we'll keep on going. Each game we're just building on it and we're getting better and better and the results show that."
TRU's Ram also made three saves in net. Justin Donaldson lead the way for the WolfPack with four shots towards the goal.
UBC (2-0-1) will host UBC Okanagan (1-2-2) at Thunderbird Stadium Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. In a battle of 1-2-1 squads, TRU will play at Victoria tomorrow night. Kickoff at Centennial Stadium is slated for 7:15 p.m.
PHOTO: Wilson Wong/UBC Thunderbirds