On Friday’s stormy night, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams took on the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) Wolfpack for their Thunderstruck festival.
The women's season results improved to 12–1 with a 3–0 victory while the men dropped their first game of the season with a 1–0 loss.
The women's game had a physical first half with TRU and UBC exploiting the flaws in each others’ play. TRU intercepted a lot of the Thunderbirds’ long passes and the ‘Birds were adaptable to their opponents. Most of the gameplay was inside the Wolfpack’s half, but TRU had good defensive pressure keeping the game scoreless.
The momentum slightly rose for UBC right before the end of the first half. They had good chances and conference points leader Katalin Tolnai almost scored on a long kick from Dani Mosher but ran out of space to get past the goalkeeper, keeping the score 0–0 at half.
“TRU has got a good team and they fight hard … fortunately, as the half wore on, I felt we got stronger,” said head coach Jesse Symons. “And then [in] the second half, we came out with a lot of chances and were good value for the win tonight.”
That good value started with Tolnai stepping up for a successful penalty kick in the 55th minute. After that, the ‘Birds keep the offensive pressure on the Wolfpack. A head shot from Jade Taylor-Ryan doubled the lead and goalkeeper Dakota Beckett kept any of TRU’s chances out of the box. Sophie Damian’s shot from the 30 yard line in the last minute soared over TRU’s goalkeeper’s hands and ended the game 3–0 for UBC.
Damian and Tolnai were standout players for the game, especially with their playmaking and offensive drives. They were also two of nine graduating players honoured before the game.
“They’re leaders of the team. They’re big time players. [Damian] finishing off the game at the end was electric, which was great to see,” said Symons.
In the men's game, a match up of last year’s national championship where the ‘Birds lost in a shootout, the Thunderbirds spent most of their time in the TRU zone, taking chances to the net.
Midfielder Logan Chung almost put the ‘Birds on the board in the 26th minute with a shot that looked like it went off the post and in, but there wasn’t enough angle and it stayed out of the net.
Play stagnantly continued back and forth and the scoreboard was still empty after 45 minutes.
After half, UBC continued with their chances but to no avail. TRU goalkeeper Svyatik Artemenko was a brick wall, blocking all 15 shots he faced.
Ultimately, it was TRU’s Michael Ojo who scored the lone goal in the 76th minute. He capitalized off a UBC joint slide tackle, which took out the attacker but left the ball open for play. Ojo notched it in the top corner, just out of reach for Thunderbird goalie Bennet McKay.
The ‘Birds couldn’t bounce back in the remaining time and the game ended 1–0 for the Wolfpack.
Both teams are wrapping up the end of their season, currently sitting first in the division as they head into the postseason, looking to defend their Canada West championships. Playoffs start on October 28, and the women will host their first game at Thunderbird Stadium.