VANCOUVER – The No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds scored three times in the second half to beat the Saskatchewan Huskies 4-1 on Saturday night in Vancouver.
The win is UBC's sixth straight and improves the team's record to 8-1 in Canada West league play, while Saskatchewan falls to 5-3.
UBC got an own goal in the first half to open the scoring, before forwards Jasmin Dhanda (Surrey, B.C.), Amrit Berar (Richmond, B.C.) and Amelia Crawford (Richmond, B.C.) tallied in the second half.
"I'm happy about the result and happy about how we played, but disappointed in letting that one goal in, especially with five minutes to play," said UBC head coach Marisa Kovacs. "We need to learn to manage the game and understand what we need in the appropriate times and at the end of the match, we need to make sure we're keeping possession and getting it out of our defensive third. We're working on that and I think we'll definitely improve."
The Thunderbirds controlled the game, finishing with an 11-1 advantage in corner kicks and a 10-4 lead in shots on goal.
UBC had good scoring chances before the first goal.
In the 32nd minute, Dhanda broke down the right side on goal but Huskies goalkeeper Kyleigh Vause turned aside her low shot from close range.
In the 38th, Vause jumped to her right to get a touch on a ball that bounced towards the post off a Taylor Shannik (Delta, B.C.) free kick.
However, just two minutes later, the Thunderbirds broke through as a Shannik corner kick resulted in an own goal, as the bounced once off the ground, and then off a Saskatchewan defender into the net.
Then early in the second half, Shannik was again the spark for the UBC offence.
She won a long bouncing ball at the Huskies end line and dribbled into the penalty area before being tripped up. The referee blew for a penalty kick, which was converted by Dhanda to make it 2-0 in the 49th minute.
Dhanda got the assist on UBC's third goal. She sent a pass into the penalty area, and Berar ran into the open towards the ball and was the first to get to it, knocking the ball just past a hard-charging Vause. The ensuing contact sent Berar leaping in celebration of her third goal of the season.
Saskatchewan's Leesa Eggum found the net in the 89th minute. The Huskies needed just four passes to advance the ball from deep in their own end to just outside the UBC penalty area. That's where Eggum received a pass, took two steps to her right and fired a shot back across the goal just inside the left post., breaking the shutout bid of Thunderbirds goalkeeper Olivia de Goede (Victoria, B.C.).
However, de Goede did record her seventh win of the season after stopping three shots on Saturday.
Crawford scored late in stoppage time on a goalmouth scramble for her second goal of the year.
UBC's next game will be on Friday, Oct. 9 at home against Victoria. Saskatchewan will play a home-and-home series next weekend against the Regina Cougars in a battle for provincial supremacy.
- with files from Kenneth Pittman
IMAGE CREDIT: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds