Jeremy Laurie (UBC Athletics)

VANCOUVER – A pair of goals and an assist from Gagan Dosanjh(Abbotsford, B.C.) helped lead the UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer team to a 3-0 win over the visiting Trinity Western Spartans (5-4-2).
 
The co-No. 1-ranked Thunderbirds will look to cap off an undefeated conference season tomorrow as they face the Fraser Valley Cascades (5-4-2).
 
Dosanjh felt his team played well on Friday's matchup and envisions seeing more of the same tomorrow night against UFV.
 
"We tried to play our game," he said. "We want to finish the season undefeated, so we had some motivation…we stuck to our game and took care of business."
 
The victory marked UBC's tenth win in a row and goalkeeper Chad Bush's (Ottawa) league-leading seventh consecutive shutout. The Thunderbirds defensive end has only allowed four goals all season.
 
Things were relatively quiet during the opening minutes of the match. Defence was stingy, as neither club was allowing much room for the other to squeeze past. Only one shot, from UBC's Milad Mehrabi (Coquitlam, B.C.), made it on net in the opening 15 minutes of play.
 
In the 19th minute Titouan Chopin (Kaslo, B.C.) put a great cross towards center and Dosanjh angled a redirect just past TWU goalkeeper Andrew Hicks.
 
UBC kept the pressure on in the minutes following the opening goal.
 
A blast from Jules Chopin (Nelson, B.C.) in the 25th minute was saved by Hicks, but his deflection left things wide open for a rebound. Sean Einarsson (Surrey, B.C.) unloaded a rocket at the center of the net, but a courageous defensive save from Connor Noftle kept the ball out of the net.
 
A pass from Mehrabi in the 39th minute met Dosanjh who put his incredible footwork on display, outmaneuvering two defenders and sniping a shot from the 18-yard line into the top right corner.
 
While the Spartans found some offensive momentum in the closing minutes of the first half, including a bomb from Matthew Roxburgh that was swallowed up by Bush, the Thunderbirds headed into headed into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
 
UBC came out firing in the opening minutes of the second half, with four decent attempts in the first 10 minutes. Hicks faced one of his 11 shots on goal, but managed to keep his team afloat.
 
In the 56th minute, Dosanjh, in mid-slide, fed a sharp angled pass from the goal line straight to Chopin who was waiting out front. Chopin redirected the pass into the lower left corner of the net bringing the Thunderbirds' lead to three.
 
After sending in the corner kick, Nike Azuma (North Vancouver) and a swarm of UBC players caused a scramble in the Spartans goal area. Azuma snuck the ball in past Hicks and gave UBC a commanding 4-0 lead midway through the second half.
 
Hicks continued to shut the door in the closing minutes, but the Spartans weren't able to penetrate the Thunderbirds' defence and only managed one shot on net.
 
Following the win, UBC head coach Mike Mosher felt his team is trending in the right direction heading into the postseason.
 
"The goal was to maintain the positive momentum we carried over the last seven weeks…I think we've just gotten better week after week. I think we're trending in the right direction."
 
UBC will host Fraser Valley on Saturday night at 7 p.m. (PT) at Thunderbird Stadium.

IMAGE CREDIT: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds