Bains leads 'Birds to semifinal berth

VANCOUVER, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds were given one of their toughest tests of the season so far in their Canada West women's soccer quarter-final against the Saskatchewan Huskies at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday evening.

Hannah Bains' 62nd minute winner was the difference between the two teams in the end in a 1-0 victory, as UBC made it 15 matches without conceding a goal and extend their winning run to an incredible 38 matches.

The Huskies gave the 'Birds everything they could handle, showing tremendous energy and endless fight, pushing the reigning national champions to their limit.

The Thunderbirds now advance to host next week's final four as they look to defend their Canada West title and book another berth at U SPORTS nationals, looking for an unprecedented three-peat.

"I thought we started well, but we had a couple of good chances that unfortunately we skyed over the bar," UBC head coach Jesse Symons said after the match. "The goal just didn't come, but again, defensively we've just been so good. The back four and Dakota Beckett and Taiya Dennehy have just been unbelievable. They're shutting down teams and creating a wall.

"Saskatchewan created a couple of things on set pieces and a couple of little things to try and get in, but with our pace and athleticism we managed to stop that, which was great. They didn't really have any clear cut chances, other than a few balls flying into the box, but we managed that well.

"Offensively, we want game changers on our team. We had Hannah Bains going in and putting her foot through the ball and putting it in the back of the net. It was a phenomenal goal. You could feel it was coming a bit in the second half and the urgency was there, which was great to see."

Holly Whelan, Hannah Bains and two other UBC Thunderbirds players come together to celebrate Bains' game winning goal over the Saskatchewan Huskies. Whelan is jumping high in the air yelling, Bains has a cartoonishly enormous grin on her face.

UBC started the game in their trademark strong fashion, but while they controlled the play, they were unable to create too many real goalscoring opportunities and fired those that they did over the bar.

Saskatchewan grew into the game and were the better side for the last 15 minutes of the first half. The Huskies had the best opportunity to open the scoring, but Alyssa D'Agnone fired over from about six yards out in the 31st minute with the goal at her mercy.

The Thunderbirds took the game to the Huskies after the restart and Holly Whelan came close with a shot in the 48th minute.

UBC Thunderbird Holly Whelan dribbling the soccer ball with a Saskatchewan Huskies player grabbing at her left arm, another Saskatchewan player watches in the background

The 'Birds eventually got the breakthrough just past the hour mark when Maddy Norman got the better of her marker on the wing and sent a low cross into the box that ran through for an unmarked Bains to fire home.

Whelan came close again for UBC in the 70th minute, but despite some late Saskatchewan pressure, the home side saw out the narrow victory.

UBC now hosts next week's Canada West Final Four at Ken Woods Field on Thursday and Friday. The T-Birds will face the Mount Royal Cougars in the first semifinal, set to start at 3:30 p.m. (PT) on Thursday. The Calgary Dinos will play Trinity Western Spartans in the other Thursday semifinal, at 6:30 p.m. (PT).