VANCOUVER – UBC rookie
Jasmin Dhanda found the back of the net twice on Saturday, including the game-winner in the 83
rd minute, as the Thunderbirds downed the Calgary Dinos 2-1 at David Sidoo Field to advance to the Canada West Final Four.
Dhanda received a pass from
Nicole Sydor in stride on the right wing, and turned the corner on her defender to earn a clean break on goal. She carried the ball to just outside the six-yard box before popping it over Dinos goalkeeper Lauren Good to put UBC on top.
It was Dhanda's second goal of the game after the rookie forward tied for the T-Birds team lead with five during the regular season.
"Straight from our goalkeeper to our forward line everyone was really good today, but obviously you need players to rise up and we knew it would only take one opportunity, and that was it," UBC head coach
Andrea Neil said of Dhanda's game-winning strike. "Nine times out of ten, you want that kind of player in front of the net."
The 'Birds had no problem controlling the ball to run out the rest of the clock after her go-ahead goal. UBC allowed a conference-low five goals during the regular season, and the T-Bird backline stifled the Dinos offence for most of the night.
Dhanda opened the scoring in the 48
th minute.
Janine Frazao got around her marker on the left wing and hit a low cross in toward the middle of the 18-yard box, where Dhanda met it with a one-timer shot into the bottom corner of the net.
But the celebration was short-lived, as the Dinos struck back on one of UBC's few defensive miscues less than two minutes later while Dhanda's goal was still being announced. Nikki Fukuwara took a pass from Andrea Nania and knocked it in from the side of the 18-yard box to tie things up.
"It's about controlling emotion, same as last week," said Neil, whose team suffered its only loss of the season in a 3-2 result against Alberta last week. "When we score they came back and scored right away. That's a key learning moment we have to take from this, but it was nice to see the team come back and get the second goal."
The T-Birds regained their composure after the goal and continued to shut down the Dinos offence the rest of the way. UBC outshot Calgary 12-6 in the match.
Alyssa Williamson made two saves in goal for the T-Birds.
The first half was all ball control and defence, especially from the Thunderbirds. Neither side generated much offensive pressure, with the T-Birds failing to hit the target on a trio of chances off crosses from the wing, while the Dinos didn't register a single shot until Fukuwara put one wide in the 45
th minute.
The 'Birds now get another crack at the only team to beat them this year, as they will square off against Alberta to start their Final Four action next weekend.
"It's a nice opportunity to come back and have another go with them. It was a back-and-forth affair, and they have a lot of special players," Neil said. "We needed to learn some lessons from that, and now what an opportunity we have to go and implement those lessons against the team we just faced."
The Canada West is being hosted by the Victoria Vikes, who finished atop the regular season standings with a record of 10-2-0, and dispatched the eighth-seed Regina Cougars 5-1 in their quarter final match. They will be joined by Alberta, UBC and Trinity Western, all of whom won between eight and 10 games this season.
"It's a testament to the whole Canada West, because the whole table was quite tight this year, so it's fitting that the Final Four is going to be up for grabs for any one of those teams," said Neil.
UBC and Alberta play on November 1 at 5 p.m. in Victoria, with the winner advancing to the Canada West gold medal game and taking one of the two available spots in the CIS championship.
-30-
