Photo Courtesy of UBC Sports Information
Vancouver, BC……The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds defeated the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades, 3-0, tonight at David Sidoo Field, in Vancouver, BC. The Thunderbirds, ranked third in the CIS top ten poll, improve their Canada West record to 4-1-0 good for 12 points a share of first place with the Victoria Vikes, also sporting a 4-1-0 record in the Pacific Division of Canada West. The Cascades record falls to 2-3-0 for 6 points, UFV is currently in third place two points up on UNBC Timberwolves for the third and final post season berth in the Pacific Division.
The Cascades played a great first half, for the first thirty minutes tonight, UFV’s game plan was carried out perfectly as they held the mighty UBC offense off the board and had the first two real quality scoring chances at James Najman, Coquitlam, BC and Justin Sekhon, Abbotsford, BC were both denied goals by the very strong UBC TBirds defense. Najman on a partial breakaway had a point blank shot on UBC’s Chris Beck, Frankfurt, Germany and was stopped by Beck making a save to his right. Minutes later off a very good corner by Ryan Liddiard, Kamloops, BC Sekhon’s shot was blocked by a UFV defender in the left hand corner of the TBirds net.
The Thunderbirds were not to be denied on this night as the scoreless streak of 120 minutes against UFV’s defense ended at the 30 minute mark when Reynold Stewart, Delta, BC found a streaking Milad Mehrabi, Coquitlam, BC the left side of the pitch and Mehrabi one time strike beat Mark Village, Abbotsford, BC to the short side to give UBC the one goal lead. The TBirds would double their lead ten minutes later as Stewart set up Navid Mashinchi, Port Moody, BC who scored on a well-placed chip over Village’s shoulder.
The second half was more of the same as UBC started to dominate the match and scored their third goal three minutes in as Harry Lakhan, Surrey, BC set up Sean Einarsson, Surrey, BC who headed in a deflection off a corner kick to give UBC the commanding lead. The Cascades kept battling UBC and with ten minutes remaining had their best scoring chance of the half as Liddiard hit the cross bar of a direct shot and Dalibor Plavsic, Coquitlam, BC just missed gathering the rebound and scoring into a partial empty net.
UFV gave the defending CIS national champions a good run tonight but the more experienced TBirds prevailed in the second match of the regular season. UFV will host TWU Spartans on Sunday, at Bateman Park, in Abbotsford, at 2pm. With UBC and Victoria already at 12 points each, the next three matches against TWU (3 points) and UNBC (4 points) are critical in the battle for the third and final Pacific Division playoff spot.
UFV 0 0 = 0 (2-3-0)
UBC 2 1 = 3 (4-1-0)
Scoring
First Half
30th Minute UBC Mehrabi (Stewart)
40th Minute UBC Mashinchi (Stewart)
Second Half
48th Minute UBC Einarsson (Lakhan)
Goalkeepers:
UFV: Village GA: 3 Saves: 3 (L)
UBC: Beck GA: 0 Saves: 3 (W) Shutout
Corner Kicks:
UFV: 4 UBC: 5
Shots on Goal:
UFV: 8 UBC: 12
Varsity Schedule
Men’s Soccer
Sunday, September 22 TWU Spartans (1-3-0) @ UFV Cascades (2-2-0) 2pm (Venue: Bateman Park, Abbotsford, BC)
MEDIA NOTE: Exhibition Field (Chilliwack, BC) opens on Monday, September 23rd, the UFV-TWU men’s soccer match on Sunday, September 22nd will be played at Bateman Park in Abbotsford, BC at 2pm. Located on Bateman Road off Highway 11 in Abbotsford, BC
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