The UBC Thunderbirds defeated the visiting University of Victoria Vikes 3-2 in sa国际传媒 West men鈥檚 soccer action Thursday on a blustery night at Thunderbird Stadium.
The Thunderbirds (7-1-5) moved into first place in the Pacific Division. The Vikes (3-8) remained four points adrift of a playoff position with five games remaining.
Jack Hill and Xavier Araujo scored the Vikes goals. Titouan Chopin scored twice for UBC, while fellow winger Zach Verhoven added a goal and an assist.
鈥淲e鈥檙e playing a lot of young, new people this year and we made a lot of little mistakes,鈥� said Vikes head coach Bruce Wilson, in a statement.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had four seniors out with injury this year, so we鈥檝e played people who have never played at all. It鈥檚 good experience for them, so, hopefully, we get better every game we play.鈥�
Chopin scored at just two minutes to give UBC an early lead. The Thunderbirds pushed their advantage to two in the 21st minute when Verhoven put a hard shot past UVic goalkeeper Noah Pawlowski.
Hill slotted the ball in the far corner to pull UVic to within one at 54th minutes. But Chopin restored UBC鈥檚 two-goal cushion just to minutes later with a shot to the top corner. Araujo closed scoring at 88 minutes.
The UVic-UBC return match is Saturday at UVic鈥檚 Centennial Stadium at 2:15 p.m.
Meanwhile, the UVic Vikes women鈥檚 soccer team (5-1-3) meets the UBC Thunderbirds (4-1-4) on Saturday in Vancouver in a sa国际传媒 West game with major playoff implications. The Vikes are third in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of UBC.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a dogfight right now. We are clawing at each other for points and it鈥檚 never easy,鈥� said Vikes head coach Tracy David.
鈥淲e have to be a little bit more threatening in the attacking third. You can鈥檛 move up the ladder if you are tying teams.鈥�
