T-Birds hold on for shutout victory

VANCOUVER, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds stayed perfect on the season with a 1-0 victory over the visiting Alberta Golden Bears at Ken Woods Field on Friday evening.

UBC's defence of their U SPORTS men's soccer championship crown continued apace thanks to an early goal from Theo Afework. Although they dominated the play they couldn't find the killer second, but were happy to make it five wins out of five to start the season.

Thunderbirds head coach Mike Mosher was delighted by the overall effort from his side, on a special evening for the program that saw the UBC national champions from 1974, 1985, and 2005 honoured on an alumni night.
 

"A good start, and that was the emphasis," Mosher said after the match. "Even though we've won the first four, the starts could have been a bit better. I thought we were quite good for the first 30 minutes. Just another one of those where the final act, the final pass just wasn't quite there.

"On the whole, I was pretty happy with the performance against a good team who are tough to break down and defended well."



The lone goal came with just over three minutes on the clock when a superb through ball from Thunderbirds captain Markus Kaiser played in Max Comsia. The forward unselfishly laid the ball off for Afework to fire home his second season and UBC had the early breakthrough they were seeking.

Alberta keeper Trystan Read came up with a couple of excellent saves to deny Yu-Hsuan Yuan and Joven Mann, with the latter also having a couple of long-range efforts that didn't miss by much.



Alberta were struggling to get much of an attack going, with Rodane Cato's wide shot two minutes before the break the closest they came.

The second half continued in much the same way, with UBC trying to break down the Alberta wall at the back. The closest they came though was an Afework shot that flashed past the far post in the 57th minute.
 

The dangers of not putting the game to bed almost came back to haunt the Thunderbirds as Partick Kondraciuk headed narrowly over in stoppage time for the Golden Bears. Despite the scare, UBC managed to see the game out.
 

"I'm happy with how things are progressing," Mosher added. "Especially against a good team, with some good weapons up top in attack and they didn't have many chances. We got a clean sheet. To hold a decent team like that to really minimal chances is a good thing.
 

"The back four continues to evolve and it's not just the back four, it's the back four plus Jack [Garner], but it's also defending from the front."

UBC are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host the Saskatchewan Huskies at Thunderbird Stadium, with kick off set for 1:00 p.m. (PT). The Golden Bears, meanwhile, head to Vancouver Island for a battle with the UVic Vikes on Sunday.