On Friday night at Ken Woods field, UBC’s men’s soccer team played the Trinity Western University Spartans, ending with a 1–1 game.
Coming into the game, the Spartans had a lot to prove against the unbeaten and first ranked ‘Birds. They played intensely, matching UBC’s speed and aggressiveness.
The first half of play had a lot of back and forth, both teams favouring long-range kicks and physicality through slide tackles and headers.
The back three line of Noah Hrdlicka, Eric Lajeunesse and Marcus Puhaji, along with goalkeeper Bennett McKay worked well together, keeping the ball mostly within Spartan territory.
The T-Birds’ first major shot came in the 14th minute off a penalty kick from Oliver Herbert, but it hit the crossbar and was caught by the goalie, much to the dismay of the crowd. The rest of the half was stagnant, however, both teams came out fresh in the next half.
The quick pace and footwork along with tight defensive pressure intensified around the 60 minute mark, with breakaways chances for the Thunderbirds that were shut down.
Herbert, who had the most shots on goal, finally hit the back of the net in the 67th minute. A side shot from Henri Godbert to the midfield was blocked but Herbert capitalized on the rebound for the first goal of the game.
Tension rose after that, with the Spartans getting two yellow cards within the last twenty minutes. But even so, Malcolm Kengni managed to tie the game just over 10 minutes later, with a quick bottom left shot. UBC had a few chances to respond, with the crowd behind them, but all came to no avail.
“We’re disappointed to not get the three points after being one up,” said UBC head coach Mike Mosher. “[But] the response afterwards was decent … we’re creating enough [scoring chances] but we’re not taking them at timely moments.”
Despite the loss, the Thunderbirds are currently in first place in Canada West with three-quarters of the season left.
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