TORONTO (CIS) – In the third quarter-final match of the 2015 CIS men's soccer championship, the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds put three goals past the University of Toronto Varsity Blues for a 3-0 victory at York Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Thunderbirds have now advanced to Saturday's second semifinal, which will be played at 1:30 p.m., while the Varsity Blues will move to the consolation side of the draw and will play in a consolation semifinal on Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
The Varsity Blues carried most of the possession throughout the first part of the game, but it was the Thunderbirds who had more scoring chances and they grabbed their first goal of the match in the 20th minute. After being rewarded a penalty shot from tight, technical dribbling in the box, Thunderbirds' Harry Lakhan of Surrey, B.C., stepped up to give his team the lead. His shot sent Toronto goalkeeper Rab Bruce-Lockhart of Victoria the wrong way, and Lakhan buried the ball deep into the right corner of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead the Thunderbirds carried into the half.
In the second half the goals kept coming for the hard-working Thunderbirds. After a solid clearance off of the goal line by Varsity Blues defender Devon Bowyer of Toronto, Justin Wallace of Kamloops, B.C., wasted no time in executing off of the loose ball and smashed the ball into the back of the net for the 2-0 lead in the 63rd minute.
The third and final goal came just six minutes later from an effort by Gagandeep Dosanjh of Abbotsford, B.C.,. Rushing between the Varsity Blues' centre defence, Dosanjh kept his composure to place the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. He was named UBC's player of the game after the final whistle.
"It was a great game but we're not here to just win the first game," said Dosanjh of his team's performance. "We are here to win the whole tournament so we'll start preparing for the next game as soon as we step off the pitch."
Despite the loss, U of T coach Luciano Lombardo was happy with his team's performance against the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
"I'm very proud of the effort the boys put in today and I anticipate that we will show well tomorrow. Any national championship game is a big game and an honour to play and we will come out ready to go."
Toronto defender Lukas MacNaughton of Brussels, Belgium, earned his team's player of the game award.
SCORING SUMMARY:
UBC 1-2: 3
TOR 0-0: 0
First Half
1. UBC Harry Lakhan (1), 20th minute
Second Half
2. UBC Justin Wallace (1), 63rd
3. UBC Gagan Dosanjh (1), 69th
Goalkeepers:
UBC: Chad Bush (W, 0 GA, 3 saves, 90:00, 1-0)
TOR: Rab Bruce-Lockhart (L, 3 GA, 4 saves, 90:00, 0-1)
Team Stats
Shots: UBC 14 TOR 11,
Shots on net: UBC 7 TOR 4,
Corners: UBC 5 TOR 4,
Offsides: UBC 0 TOR 1,
Fouls: UBC 14 TOR 14
Yellow cards: UBC (Adriano Clemente), TOR (Kenny Lioutas)
Red cards: TOR (Lukas MacNaughton – 2 yellow cards)
Players of the game:
UBC: Gagan Dasanjh
TOR: Lukas MacNaughton
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Thursday, Nov. 12
11:00 Quarter-final 1: UQAM 2, McMaster 1 (4-3 kicks)
13:30 Quarter-final 2: UNB 3, Victoria 2
16:00 Quarter-final 3: UBC 3, Toronto 0
19:00 Quarter-final 4: York 4, Cape Breton 1
Friday, Nov. 13
11:00 Consolation 1: McMaster 2, Victoria 1
13:30 Consolation 2: Cape Breton 3, Toronto, 0
Saturday, Nov. 14
11:00 Semifinal 1: UQAM vs. UNB (CIS-SIC.tv)
13:30 Semifinal 2: UBC vs. Winner QF 4 (CIS-SIC.tv)
16:00 5th-place game (CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, Nov. 15
11:00 Bronze medal (CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Championship final (CIS-SIC.tv)