EDMONTON - The University of British Columbia Thunderbirds scored a 1-0 victory over the Calgary Dinos Saturday afternoon at Foote Field in Edmonton, during semi final action in the Canada West men's soccer championship, hosted by the University of Alberta.
BOX SCORE
Fourth-year defender Matthew Allard, who hails from Vancouver, scored a spectacular goal to send the Thunderbirds, the Canada West No. 2 seed, into the conference championship match where they will fight for the remaining Canada West berth into the national championship tournament. UBC will play the fourth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies on Sunday at 2 pm on the grass at Foote Field for the conference hardware. As Alberta had already earned a berth into the CIS tournament, only the Canada West champion will advance along with the Golden Bears.
In the 13th minute, Thunderbird midfielder Brandon Bonifacio, recently named a Canada West first team all-star, made a great run down the sideline, strafing into the Calgary zone, and eventually picking out Allard with a long cross to the far side of the Dinos' 18-yard box. The veteran defender, all alone in the corner of box, perfectly volleyed the cross past a jumping JP Crescenzi, and into the top corner of the Calgary net.
That lead carried the T-Birds through the remainder of the first half, but the Dinos did have their chances.
In the 68th minute, Calgary broke into UBC's zone and connected on some nice passing in the Thunderbird box, but after the ball eventually landed at the feet of
Matt Reid, the fifth-year defender couldn't tie the game, sending his shot high of the target.
The Thunderbirds managed to hold off the Calgary attack for the remainder of game, securing the tight 1-0 win, and advancing to the conference championship.
Calgary, meanwhile, will meet the Alberta Golden Bears for the conference bronze medal. The two teams met twice in the regular season, each scoring a 3-1 win.
Game time for the gold medal game is 2 pm, while the Bears and Dinos will meet at 2:15 on the turf field for bronze.
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