As the No. 5 ranked team in Canada, the UBC Thunderbirds, rolled into town. Home team UBCO had a game plan that the team executed perfectly as the Heat shutout the T-Birds (2-0) on Sunday afternoon.
The win marked the first victory for UBCO over UBC in Canada West action. The two goalscorers for the Heat, 3rd year Aaron Mulama and rookie Jacob York, both found twine for the first time in their respective Canada West careers.
The Heat opened the scoring in the ninth minute as Mulama flew down the left side and guided the ball past UBC keeper Jason Roberts. After getting a pass from Jimmy Steel, Mulama quickly separated himself from the UBC defender and found the bottom right side of the net.
The Heat carried the 1-0 lead into the second half, although the stats were heavily in favour of UBC, who lead in shots 13-4.
The Thunderbirds continued to press early in the second half. UBC came close to scoring
in the 49th minute when Kerman Pannu played a ball into the box. It tipped off Reitsma’s fingertips and rattled the post.
York buried the Heat’s second of the game in the 66th minute. He deflected a pass from Taylor Piche into the back of the net.
Although the visiting side carried most of the offensive play, the Heat were prepared to match with strong defensive efforts. Heat Captain Hamish Walde ranks this win as “probably up there as #1….[It] was a real team effort. Everyone that came on the pitch put a job in, and we got the result we were looking for.”
Heat keeper Reitsma made a career-high 9 saves in his clean sheet.
With the win, UBCO are (3-1-0) and sit at the top of the table in the Pacific Division of Canda West men’s soccer.
The Heat are back in action Friday, Sept. 6th at UFV. The game will start at 7 p.m. PDT.
The loss was the first of the year for the Thunderbirds, who are now (2-1-1), they will return home for their next game on Saturday, Sept. 14 against Lethbridge at 7 p.m. PDT.
All Canada West action is available on Canada West tv presented by Co-op.
~ Brandon Smith, Heat Sports Information
