Extending their lead for the most in the conference’s history, UBC women’s soccer earned their 18th Canada West title, toppling the Trinity Western University (TWU) Spartans 2–0 in the Canada West finals on the evening of Oct. 31 at Ken Woods Field. The T-Birds’ winning ways continued, with the next step for the back-to-back conference champ being the U Sports Women’s Soccer Championship in Hamilton, Ontario.
“We're just all really excited,” said forward Sienna Gibson. “We've all worked so hard to get to this moment since Aug. 1 all the way up to now.”
Both UBC and TWU are no strangers to the Canada West finals. They have faced off against each other for the championship four of the last five years, with the Thunderbirds winning two of those four. The Spartans always put up quite the fight against the Thunderbirds, with every matchup between these teams being highly contested.
This season was no different. Despite UBC having a historically dominant year, the Spartans gave them a challenge. Both times UBC faced them, while they were able to come out on top with two 1–0 wins, they were not easy. This game was no different. While the T-Birds scored more goals this time around, the Spartans ensured it was not a one-sided game.
“We had a good game plan. We knew that they were going to come out strong,” said UBC’s head coach Jesse Symons. “There's a couple breaks that went our way, a couple breaks went their way for us not to finish the game by more. But, I was really happy with the performance from all our players today.”
The day before this game, the Thunderbirds and the Spartans both made it past their semifinal matchups. While UBC lost their streak of clean sheet games — having not allowed a goal since October 2024 — they still beat the Mount Royal University Cougars 2–1 to solidify their spot in the Canada West finals and U Sports nationals. The Spartans also punched their way to the finals after a gruelling match against the University of Calgary Dinos the day prior. After 120 minutes the game remained scoreless, but TWU was able to clinch the win in penalty kicks, 3–2.
Considering that they had struggled to get chances against TWU last time around, UBC tried to start on the right foot offensively, setting a high press early in the game to make it difficult for the Spartans’ defence. In the first minute, they earned a corner and although they were unable to connect on it, it set the pace for their attack. However, TWU quickly matched UBC’s offensive start. They brought the ball back across the field, with action in the T-Birds end as they sought to best ‘Birds keeper Dakota Beckett early, taking the first shot of the game only a few minutes later.
After TWU’s chance, UBC went right back, looking to respond. UBC earned a free kick close to the TWU net, and the newly-titled Canada West rookie of the year, Sophie Harrison, stepped up to take it. She placed the ball right into the box — but the Spartans connected with it first, heading it out. Jayda Thompson — back to playing after missing a game — was there after TWU’s clearing attempt, getting it back into the box again, before TWU deflected it out once more. Finally, after all the back and forth, Holly Whelan connected for the shot, but the Spartans’ keeper was there to save it.
The back-and-forth in the box was a microcosm of the game at this point. Both teams traded possession and shots on either end — but no one was able to finish.
For the Spartans, third-year forward Mansha Sidhu led their offence in this game, setting up her teammates and providing TWU with a spark. Soon after UBC’s close chance, Sidhu went for a run with the ball and almost broke past the T-Birds back line — but was just cut off and not able to get the shot off despite the initially promising chance.
As the first half came to a close, it was once again Sidhu who put pressure on the Thunderbirds as the end of the first half started to draw near. In an uncharacteristic mistake, UBC fouled Sidhu in the box to give the Spartans a penalty kick. What could have been devastating for the T-Birds — potentially being down in a game for the first time all year — was just a blip, as the shot went just wide.
After the penalty kick miss kept the game still scoreless, with around one minute left before halftime, the Thunderbirds changed the tide in their favour. As fifth-year Ava Alexander got the ball, UBC quickly pushed up the field, with Alexander running the ball up the sideline and cutting into the box. Spartans keeper Yasmine Pahal came out to challenge and stopped the ball — but she couldn’t hold on to it. Off the rebound, first-year Ella Santarsieri acted fast, making a quick touch back to Gibson, who fired off a beautiful shot to score the Thunderbirds’ first point of the game.
Thanks both to this phenomenal goal and her key presence in UBC’s offence, Gibson was named the championship MVP. Only in her second year, Gibson has been a key player for the T-Birds, one of the team’s leading scorers — with nine goals on the year — which led to her being named to the Canada West all-star team. She has quickly become an offensive leader for the Thunderbirds, continuing to improve after an already outstanding rookie season, where she was named the MVP of the U Sports nationals tournament.
“[I’m] so proud of the whole team's performance. I got the award, but it wouldn't have been possible without the whole team. Everyone worked so incredibly hard, with the goal that I was able to score, it was a team effort,” said Gibson. “I'm just so grateful to share the field with these girls.”
With UBC being able to sneak in a goal right before the clock ran out, they led at halftime 1–0. For the Thunderbirds, taking the first lead of the game was key — setting the tone for the rest of the game. TWU would now have to play catch up in the second half. The game continued to be a tough battle into the second, and while Spartans kept up with UBC — outshooting them 8–6 in both halves — they could not score.
“Going into the second half, [we were] making sure ... that we calm[ed] it down during times of chaos. That was the big thing that we wanted to control, and I thought we were able to do that really well,” said Gibson.
The T-Birds started the second half as they ended the first — looking to find the net once again. Maddy Norman, another second-year player, got the ball and raced down the field by herself, heading straight to the goal. She lost her defender and beat the keeper to fire another beautiful goal for UBC.
Only a minute and a half into the second half, the ‘Birds were up 2–0. Thanks to Norman, UBC had tilted the game in their favour before the Spartans could even get their bearings. This was Norman’s seventh goal of the season — as another prolific young player on the Thunderbirds’ offence, Norman has taken on a large offensive role. Through the contributions of young players like Norman and Gibson, the T-Birds got to showcase once more before nationals the depth of their team — depth that will be key throughout such a competitive tournament.
“We're very happy, and we're such a young team coming into this, a lot of new players,” said first-year forward Sophia Abiera. “We've just really come to as a collective and worked really hard and bought into the bigger picture.”
UBC couldn’t let up after this goal, however, as TWU would do everything in their power to stay in the game, and the T-Birds had to keep the third-highest scoring offence in the conference at bay.
To support their efforts on defence, UBC continued to push forward. UBC midfielder Taiya Dennehy intercepted the ball to set up a cascading play, moving the ball to the net, and although the team was unable to capitalize on Dennehy’s turnover, the T-Birds had momentum and began to hold possession more.
Abiera — who had subbed in at the start of the second half — immediately brought more hustle into the game. Gaining possession of the ball, when she saw an opening, she tried to take it and run towards the net with a shot in sight — but was just cut off by a Spartans defender who flew in to stop her.
Abiera’s energy added fuel to UBC’s fire, keeping them going with plenty of time left in the second. In a rookie-to-rookie connection, Harrison got the ball into the box, finding Abiera, who tried to get her foot on it once again — but just missed the connection as the ball went to the keeper.
“Today, you saw some players going that haven't had a lot of minutes that really influenced the game with Ella Santarsieri and Sophia Abiera,” said Symons. “We need more players like that to really help our team.”
Continuing to put pressure on TWU’s defence despite their multi-goal lead, UBC earned another free kick up close. While TWU cleared it out the back end, this earned the Thunderbirds a corner.
After Dennehy took the corner, first-year defender Heike Clarke, usually one of their last lines on defence, had a rare moment on offence. Clarke got her foot on the ball for a shot, but TWU’s keeper was there to save it, deflecting the ball out for another corner. Pinning the Spartans back, the T-Birds continued like this with close chances and regained possession with two more corners, but could not extend their lead further.
In the dying minutes of the game, the Spartans looked desperate to get on the board. As TWU looked to cross the ball into the box, Harrison cut them off, with the ball going out to give the Spartans a corner. A chance that could have been dangerous was read easily by Beckett, who came forward to deflect it.
UBC held strong against TWU’s last-ditch shot attempts, and when the whistle blew the T-Birds raced onto the field — officially becoming back-to-back Canada West champions.
After awarding the medals, UBC’s captain Ella Sunde was called up to get the trophy, and in a heartfelt moment, she called over her fellow senior Sophia Ferreira to help her. Ferreira had to sit out this entire season due to an injury, but throughout her career, she has been a key player for UBC as a strong defender — even scoring the game winner in last year’s national championship.
On this incredible T-Birds team, every player had worked hard to get the win — and it paid off against TWU. They extended their winning streak to 40 games and they headed off to Nationals on a high note.
“A lot of people who couldn't be on the field today, and we're fighting for them, everyone together as a collective,” said Abiera. “Giving it everything that we've got as a unit, and like, putting my body on the line literally anything, just to get the win.”
Although both teams had already clinched their spot at the U Sports national championship in Hamilton, UBC earned the top seed with this win. The Thunderbirds turn to prepare for a difficult tournament ahead of them. Being a countrywide tournament, UBC will have to play teams they do not know well — the top eight teams in the country. Even though UBC has been dominant this whole season, they will have to dig deep to go the distance.
“We just got to be confident and ready to go and have our whole team ready to compete,” said Symons. “Overall, it was a great performance today, and I'm hoping that we'll be ready to roll next week for sure.”
“We're really focused on playing like ourselves, sticking to our plan and not adapting to other teams," said Abiera. “Sticking to who we are as a team ... and hopefully get the win at the end.”
