UBC men’s soccer improved to 6–3–2 in Canada West play after a 1–1 road draw and a 7–2 home win in their doubleheader this weekend against the University of Victoria Vikes (2–6–4).
In Thursday’s game on the island, it was the T-Birds who started strongest. Victory Shumbusho fired just over the crossbar after winning the ball deep in UVic’s half, while Logan Chung had a curling effort go just wide of the post.
Shumbusho gave UBC the lead in the 45th minute, planting a header into the bottom corner from a Thomas Gardner cross after some nice buildup down the right wing.
UVic improved after the break and was denied only by the woodwork when Sam McDonald’s header hit the post in the 64th minute. Four minutes later, Nick Park equalized for the Vikes, firing in a Fin Tugwell cutback to make it 1–1.
Tristan Nkoghe forced a good save from UVic’s goalkeeper Harjot Nijjar in added time, but ultimately both teams shared the points from match number one.
For Saturday’s match at home, UBC switched formations from a 4-3-3 to a 3-4-3, and the decision paid off as the pressure from the UBC wingbacks proved a handful for the Vikes defence.
The T-Birds ran rampant out of the gate, scoring three goals inside eight minutes to take control of the match. Shumbusho continued his good run of form with two goals, finishing clinically off of crosses by Daniel Kaiser and Mihai Hodut.
Chung added to his tally in the 40th minute, showing great skill to get behind the UVic defence before coolly finishing into the bottom corner. The T-Birds scored their fifth in stoppage time, as Markus Puhalj’s deflected header was knocked into the net after a scramble by the goal.
Connor Mrazek headed in an Eric Lajeunesse freekick in the 47th minute to make it 6–0, before UVic got two goals back courtesy of Hamish Ogden and Javier Sagaste. In stoppage time, Asvin Chauhan’s through ball found Tristan Nkoghe, who finished emphatically for the T-Birds’s seventh goal.
“We squeezed on them a lot better than what we might have liked the other day in the first half,” said head coach Mike Mosher, who lauded his team’s improved performance and clinical finishing in Saturday’s match. “We were due to have a bit of a breakout, we’ve created a lot of chances in a lot of games and today was one of those games where we didn’t miss many opportunities.”
With his three goals across both matches, Shumbusho now has eight goals in Canada West play, second-most in the conference. After this weekend, the T-Birds moved up to second in the Canada West table. Their next match is an away game against the University of Fraser Valley Cascades on Friday.
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