As the adage goes: “If you play with fire, you will get burned.”
That is, unless you happen to have an extinguisher handy, which UBC certainly did for its sole jaunt up to Kelowna this season.
Mike Mosher’s T-Birds spent the match smothering UBCO before the Heat could get anything going, turning the latest intra-institutional encounter between the two campuses into a glaciation event. The last time the two teams met was over a year ago at Thunderbird Stadium, in a match that saw the Heat fall to the ‘Birds 5–0, an identical scoreline to the one posted on Friday.
UBC came into the night unbeaten without any concessions through three matches in nine days, having recently put a bow on two sequential bouts against the eager but inexperienced Trinity Western University Spartans.
UBCO wandered in with little to brag about, having freshly disembarked from a brief sail westward where they fell 4–0 to the UVic Vikes. Predating the voyage, the Heat suffered a tough loss against TWU in their home opener, failing to clutch onto a 1–0 lead after forty-five minutes.
Notable before kickoff were some alterations to UBC’s lineup from last Wednesday against TWU at Thunderbird Stadium. In goal, Hayden Franks was selected to start over prominent performer Roko Vukic, who has been chiefly responsible for holding the T-Birds’ opponents scoreless throughout his three appearances. Another familiar face absent from the outset was Luke Norman, presumably in lieu of the inaugural inclusion of Henri Godbout in the starting eleven. Oliver Herbert also made his return after missing a match due to a red card suspension the weekend prior against TWU.
Arranged in a typical high block from the start, UBC made a concerted effort to wipe out UBCO’s time on the ball, resulting in a number of errant passes around the Heat’s goal. Within just four minutes, UBC were rewarded for their insistence, when a dash and dish down the right flank by Max Comsia culminated in a Godbout effort from range that promptly deflected to a lingering Markus Rukavina, who elected to zip in a cross from the edge of the penalty area. The ball was knocked down by UBCO’s keeper Ronan Woodroffe, but his uncontrolled touch careened straight back to a poised-to-poach Comsia, who thumped it into the goal to put UBC up 1–0 on his fourth tally in as many matches.
After jumping ahead, the T-Birds continued to squeeze the Heat without any relent. In the seventh minute, a Rukavina poke from near the penalty spot was blocked by UBCO’s Ian Ballantyne. Not long after, upon gaining the ball at half, Comsia effortlessly spun Heat defender Ian Klumpen and launched one of his patented charges toward the goal. Once parallel with the penalty area, Comsia threaded a pass to Godbout who, in a single touch, brilliantly chopped the ball between two bodies, but ended up yanking his attempt into the side of the net.
UBC’s blitz, however, was just part of the whole that caused the Heat to freeze over. While the ‘Birds prevented the Heat from surging, UBCO never came close to properly returning the treatment. Particularly when UBC’s defensive line — notably the tandem of Eric Lajeunesse and Lucas Dasovic — had the ball, the Heat showed no interest in applying pressure to compel the ‘Birds to cough up possession. As a result, not dissimilar to how they started against TWU in Langley, the T-Birds rejoiced in the opportunity to spray the ball laterally through both planes, with aerial passes often reaching their target without any contest.
UBC hit the ground running, and in just under four minutes, they scored their first goal.
By holding back, the Heat practically invited the T-Birds to incite chaos in the attacking third, but it was not just this short-sighted decision that fuelled UBCO’s implosion. A lot of credit must be given to the ‘Birds’ blanket dynamism, resulting in the Heat being incapable of man-marking with any degree of efficacy. Each time a player on UBCO opted to hunt a T-Bird, two more ‘Birds swooped in someplace else to cause problems. Put differently, UBC was most threatening when its shape looked unfamiliar. They routinely sought to exploit half-spaces on the pitch, snapping lines and flashing into pockets that had been vacated seconds prior, and so, for ninety minutes, although the Heat were on, the vents were firmly shuttered.
For instance, it is no oddity to witness Nicolas Nadeau operating at the top of the penalty area, while central midfielder Yu-Hsuan Yuan drifts toward the right flank and defensive midfielder Brennen Fuerst occupies the unattended room by a driving Lajeunesse. Thus, for the Heat, there were no obvious assignments to attach themselves to, and once the T-Birds set up their attack, the only hope for this UBCO team would have been the spontaneous discovery of group telepathy.
One minor caveat to just how otherworldly UBC looked is that UBCO made the game easier. Take, for example, that the Heat committed eight fouls in ninety minutes, only one of which warranted an official warning from the referee — in the first half, no less. Then, compare that to the fourteen committed against UVic the match prior, and the minuscule resistance faced by the T-Birds becomes even more concrete.
UBCO’s sustained hesitancy to step to UBC was met by the Bird’s fluidity in possession, as they pounced on the opportunity to score more goals.
In the tenth minute, after UBCO made a string of misinputs in front of its goal area, Rukavina intercepted a faulty clearing attempt and proceeded to thread the needle, finding an unmarked Herbert by the penalty arc. In established fashion, rather than stepping to tackle, the UBCO defender sagged, forfeiting ground to Herbert that allowed him to get set before picking his spot and slashing the ball into the bottom right corner to put UBC up 2–0.
As the match zipped along, UBC had its hands firmly on the steering wheel while UBCO continued to serve up a severely undercooked low block. Despite parking all eleven bodies behind the ball, the Heat consistently backed away from the T-Bird with possession, creating ample time and space for the likes of Herbert and Fuerst to dictate the direction of the match.
One of the few methods the Heat deployed in an effort to establish a presence in the final third was going directly from their keeper upfield, mainly on goal kicks. Predictably, these tries were stifled by the T-Birds.
In the eighteenth minute, a miscued pass by a Heat midfielder put Comsia in alone against the keeper. He put his laces through the ball and managed to beat Woodroffe but not the far post. Around ten minutes later, a Godbout header off a corner kick created an opportune rebound, but Woodroffe hopped on the ball before a ‘Bird could dive in for the scraps.
Throughout the contest, UBC consistently exploited holes in the Heat defence.
A little more than thirty minutes since raising the lead to two — a span in which UBC took eleven shot attempts — Herbert banked his second toward what would soon become a natural hat trick. In the lead up, Comsia made an exquisite run down the right flank, dusting two Heat players before picking out a streaking Herbert, who took a no-nonsense first-time thump that blazed right in between the keeper and the post.
Comsia’s display of versatility throughout the match — especially when squaring his marker with his helper on Herbert’s second goal — cannot be overstated. The former necessitated being in the right place at the right time — a feat much easier said than done — whereas the latter demanded even more: a controlled sprint, followed by some nifty footwork, and finally a diagonal ball to set the table for Herbert to unleash without hesitation.
On the topic of Herbert — he was outstanding. His hat trick nearly pales in comparison to how persistently he dictated the pace at which his team operated. Returning from suspension, he seemingly gained a step, or three. Perhaps the flame missing from the Heat’s performance was used to light Herbert’s hair on fire before the match. Time and again, he sank into the buildup to receive the ball, before stirring with vigour to propel the T-Birds. When in possession in the attacking third, he had the prowess to shimmy away from countless Heat defenders, coaxing UBCO’s walls to crumble around him.
When the two teams returned from the break at halftime, the immediate run of play suggested that neither seemed too inclined to roll out any substantial methodological revisions. This was surprising on one front, to say the least.
UBCO returned and, when opportunities presented to build out from the back, they tried to go direct from their keeper up the pitch, to no avail again.
UBC also continued its first-half form, supplemented by a revolving door of changes, each one making an appreciable impact on the match outcome. Possibly the most poignant halftime substitution for the T-Birds was the introduction of first-year Marcus Blount, who needed less than three minutes to record his first goal contribution of the season.
In the forty-seventh minute, Blount received a ball that was fed tidily down the right flank by another ‘Birds substitute, Joshua Tomé, and evaded a sliding tackle by a Heat defender. Upon reaching the end line, he squared it to Herbert, who, in the blink of an eye, snuck the ball beneath a dropping Woodroffe and into the goal.
4–0 UBC and a Herbert hat trick!
UBC's Oliver Herbert dominated the first half, putting up two goals.
Though that was Herbert’s last tally, he was not yet done leaving his mark on the match. Right around the hour mark, he was tasked with delivering an outswinging corner kick. The ball into the box was met by Lajeunesse at the near post, who noggined it off the crossbar. A brief pinball session ensued before the captain finished his plate with a nudge into the bottom-right corner, netting his first goal of the season.
After five, UBC remained with it, and despite not adding a sixth in the remaining thirty minutes, the T-Birds definitely could have, if not for a collection of saves by Woodroffe and a bit of last-ditch defending.
The ‘Birds did well to avoid forcing passes, wisely resorting to a conventional ball management method whereby they recycled through the midfield and back around the defensive line. And, when out of possession, they applied sustained pressure and sought to win fifty-fifty balls.
UBC’s best look to add a sixth came in the eighty-fifth minute, when Nadeau chipped a teasing ball over UBCO’s defensive line. The pass was volleyed by Blount past Woodroffe and bound for the goal, but with an outstretched leg, Heat defender Kai Gauthier flicked the ball off the crossbar and away, holding his team’s deficit to a five-spot.
After a couple more scoring opportunities, including a convincing effort from range in added time by Godbout which was saved by Woodroffe, the final whistle came and went.
If there is a takeaway for UBCO, it is that Woodroffe made a dozen saves, tying his career high through his five years of eligibility.
For the T-Birds, they will likely fly away from this one satisfied with their firefighting efforts. The extent of the rout in this match was unquestionably exacerbated by UBCO’s inability or unwillingness to press UBC and hit ignite when the ‘Birds touched down.
