CALGARY – The perfect season continues for the UBC Thunderbirds as they marched to a 3-0 win over the Victoria Vikes in the Canada West Final. Saturday's game provided both the 17th win of the season for the T-Birds, as well as the 17th Canada West banner in program history.
Jayda Thompson scored the eventual game winner in the 18th minute, before she and
Jade Taylor-Ryan both scored in the second half. It's the second conference championship in three years for the T-Birds, who will look to follow it up with a second straight U SPORTS Championship in Halifax next weekend.
After only conceding four goals in the entire regular season, the Thunderbirds recorded three straight shutouts in the Canada West playoffs, outscoring their opponents 11-0.
"We came out ready to go and after losing in the final last year, I think it really motivated us to step on the game early," said Thunderbirds head coach
Jesse Symons. "We got lucky on Jayda's first goal with the bounce and we were able to control it after that. Second half – we came out ready to go and Jayda once again scored an incredible goal, and the third goal was just pure class with Jade and Vanessa."
The Thunderbirds' offence was off and running right out of the gates in this one, leading to Thompson's first goal in the 18th minute. After a missed clearance attempt by the Vikes, the UBC attacker was right on top of the loose ball and fired far post to give the T-Birds the early lead.
Despite an 11-3 edge in shots in the first half for the Thunderbirds, the score stayed the same until just after halftime, when Thompson struck again. A chipped pass from
Bailey Doerksen gave Thompson the ball just outside the Vikes' penalty box. She split two defenders and hammered home her third of the Final Four with an incredible solo effort to make it 2-0 in the 51st minute.
"It's so exciting to be a part of something so big, especially with all the success this team has," Thompson said. "I came into this weekend personally nervous; we knew it was going to be a battle each game and the opposition brought all they can, and we had to dig deep and put in the work."
Taylor-Ryan – the Canada West leader in goals this season – put this one to bed with a goal in the 67th minute. After
Vanessa Tome brought the ball down the left sideline and slotted a pass into the box, Taylor-Ryan ran onto it and struck it in stride, pinging it off the left post and into the back of the net.
With Canada West gold around their necks, the focus now turns to nationals, where the Thunderbirds have the chance to win the conference and national championship double for the sixth time, and the first time since 2015.
"Our focus is to always win games and that will be our emphasis next Thursday," added Symons. "We had two tough games this weekend and we just need to get ready to go. Going 14-0 in season and 3-0 here is unbelievable and full credit to the team. I'm so proud of the team it's such a special group."
This year's U SPORTS National Championship is hosted by Dalhousie and runs from November 7th to 10th. The Thunderbirds will learn their place in the bracket on Sunday.
