At the midseason, the UBC Thunderbirds women's soccer team is dominating the Canada West (CW) standings, having won all eight of their games so far. As they currently lead with 24 points, the Thunderbirds are focused on finishing the season strong — hopefully by securing victories in the CW Championship and U Sports national championship.
Last year, the team finished the regular season with a 13–1 record for the second consecutive year, tying their best-ever finish. Then, although they earned CW silver, the Thunderbirds were victorious at the U Sports national women’s soccer championship for the eighth time in history. They are currently the number one ranked team in the country and look strong to defend their title as champions.
“[The CW final] is a game that I know that our team will be very motivated to replicate what we did in 2022," head coach Jesse Symons said in an interview with The Ubyssey. "It's a massive opportunity to try and repeat as national champions, like our program did back in 2002 and 2003.”
The head coach credited much of the team’s success this season to leadership from Jacqueline Tyrer, Nisa Reehal and Vanessa Tome, who have rostered every game thus far and won two national championships for the school.
“Their energy and mindset and commitment to wanting to leave an amazing legacy for this program with their five years of playing and six years in the school has been nothing short of exceptional,“ said Symons.
Alongside veteran leadership, Symons expressed pride in how well first-year players have integrated into the lineup, highlighting the contributions of Zoelle Apps, Sienna Gibson and Olivia Gomez.
“I feel that that has been quite an impressive situation to have so many young players step into our program with the sort of level we were playing at right away.”
The team has allowed just two goals in eight games, achieving seven shutouts in the process. If they maintain their current form, the ‘Birds could surpass the program wins/loss record. UBC has a shooting efficiency rate of 18.3 percent, third in the conference. Leading the way is Bailey Doerksen, who has scored five goals and eight points for the T-Birds.
As the team looks toward the second half of the season, Symons said maintaining competitiveness hinges on consistency, solid possession and a strong attack.
“It’s about becoming more consistent with how we are going forward and attacking,” Symons said. “We've done a really good job defensively, so I'm hoping that continues to stay consistent over the next few weeks.”
The team’s last home weekend is October 4 and 5, where they’ll be taking on Mount Royal University and the University of Victoria. Then, they’ll have a small break before Canada West playoffs start on October 25.
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