Box Score VANCOUVER – The UBC Okanagan Heat men's soccer team looked poised to steal three points on the road from the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night but a pair of late goals from the hosts flipped the game on its head as the Heat fell 2-1 in their regular season opener.
Fourth-year midfielder
Alex Sol of Langley, B.C., gave the visiting Heat a dream start in the 27
th minute as he opened the scoring with his second career goal. Off a corner kick, the ball bounced around in the box before falling to Sol, who fired it past UBC keeper Bennett McKay of Delta, B.C., to give UBCO a 1-0 advantage.
UBCO would play stingy defence against the top-ranked team in the Canada West preseason poll following the goal as they limited UBC to very few quality scoring opportunities.
The defensive effort was highlighted in the 61
st minute when second-year midfielder
Varun Kothary of Burnaby, B.C., headed the ball off the line to keep the Heat in the lead.
However, the wheels would fall off for UBCO in the dying minutes as the Thunderbirds equaled from the spot in the 87
th minute before netting the game winner in added time to secure all three points on home turf.
TOP PLAYERS
D Tavin Williams - UBCO
The rookie defender from Victoria played all 90 minutes in his Heat debut and was a threat on both sides of the ball. He played a crucial role in limiting the powerful Thunderbirds to just six shots on target while also finish the match with a team-best three shots, including hitting the post twice inside the opening three minutes of the match.
MF Luke Norman - UBC
The second-year midfielder from Vancouver came off the bench to score the winning goal on Friday night as he also recorded two of his team's six shots on goal.
UP NEXT
The Heat will have a day off before they close out their two-game road swing to open the season on Sunday afternoon with a tilt against the Victoria Vikes. Game time is set for 1 p.m. in Victoria and the action can be seen live on CanadaWest.tv.
