UBC women's soccer and forward Danielle Steer set multiple Canada West records in games against the Trinity Western Spartans and University of Fraser Valley Cascades in the last weekend of the regular season.
Danielle Steer sets new record for CW women’s soccer during UBC’s win over Spartans
Danielle Steer broke the all-time Canada West points record on Friday night as UBC women’s soccer secured a 3-0 victory over the Trinity Western Spartans.
With a quick kickoff, the Thunderbirds instantly pushed forward keeping pressure for the rest of the game. After a goal attempt by the Spartans, the T-Birds quickly countered. A pass from striker Danielle Steer found midfielder Nisa Reehal inside the box for the first goal of the night at 21 minutes.
Continuing the momentum in the 44th minute, Danielle Steer delivered another perfectly timed pass, this time to midfielder Katalin Tolnai who squeezed the ball just under the goalkeeper’s glove into the corner.
Steer’s second assist gave her 67 points total to move her ahead of T-Birds Jasmine Dhanda's 65 points and set the all-time Canada West career points record in women's soccer.
The second half had the Spartans hungry to score, but the T-Birds’s defence was impenetrable. With good coverage, the T-Birds were not shy to earn possession. At 50 minutes Nisa Reehal floated a header over the goalkeeper for her second goal of the night. Assisted by forward Jade Taylor-Ryan, Reehal’s eighth of the season secured the 3–0 home win for the Thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds cruise past Cascades to tie a bow on their season
It was a sweet night for UBC women’s soccer as they secured a 6–0 win against the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades on Saturday, wrapping up their season with a 13–1–0 record.
Before the game, eight of the team’s graduating players were honoured in a Senior Night celebration. Flowers, photos and hearty applause greeted the outgoing Dakota Chan, Sophie Damian, Sarah Johns, Taylor Reynolds, Janika Sangha, Danielle Steer, Katalin Tolnai and Jessica Williams.
UBC’s seniors put up the first points on the board as Steer finished off a Tolnai shot from right in front of the goal. The T-Birds kept up the pressure early, with a 14th minute header from Nisa Reehal kicked into the net from close range by Sophia Kramer. Soon after, a sneaky back heel pass from Steer found Tolnai, who dribbled past UFV’s Sofia Faremo and Alanna Sydenham to pocket the game's third goal.
The half ended in quieter fashion with defensive plays from UFV denying the ‘Birds any more points for the period. UBC came into the next frame with more firepower. Tolnai pushed forward to set up Steer behind her, who scored her second goal of the night to make it 4–0.
“When we put Dani and Kat centrally I think they showed what they can do,” head coach Jesse Symons said.
A Steer pass to midfielder Aislin Phillips, who skillfully manoeuvred through the Cascades’s defence, netting her first goal of the season. The assist from Steer tied her for the most individual points in a season in Canada West women’s soccer, continuing her record-making weekend.
UFV wasn’t ready to go down easy; Luciana Andrews, Jenna Mele and Kayla Tallarico put together some shots on target in quick succession. However, keeper Dakota Beckett made sure the T-Birds’s clean sheet remained unbroken.
Ending the game as strong as they started, the ‘Birds turned the score to 6–0 in the final few seconds when a Vanessa Tome header knocked Damian’s blocked shot in. The win tied UBC with the 2018 Calgary Dinos team for the best record in Canada West history, yet another testament to the team’s dominance.
For Symons, the highlight of the regular season was the sheer depth of the T-Birds team. “We played 25 or 26 players all year and everyone got in, we had a ton of goal scorers, we’re scoring from all different spaces, we’re not allowing a lot of goals.”
UBC will play their first playoff game on Saturday, October 29, facing the winner of the play-in game between the 4th and 5th seeds in the Prairie Division.