Before a large crowd at Thunderbird stadium Friday night, the UBC and SFU men’s soccer teams played in what is becoming an annual preseason tradition. In a game that featured plenty of hard challenges, the Clan came up short, losing 1–0 to the Thunderbirds. To add insult to injury, the only goal of the game was scored by Justin Wallace, a former SFU player.
“Justin is special,” said SFU head coach Clint Schneider. “We knew that when we had him. We were unlucky that we weren’t able to keep him around longer, but he’s a hell of a player. He’s going to win them a lot of games on his own for them this year.”
The game started off well for SFU. They had the majority of possession within the first few minutes, and UBC were forced to attack on the counter once they got the ball. However, in the 11th minute, UBC forward Han Sol Kim was one on one with SFU keeper Brad Watson, only to be denied by a brilliant save. SFU had a chance to open the scoring in the 13th minute, a free header by SFU forward Michael North just going wide of the far post.
Later on in the 37th minute, North was at it again, this time making a great individual run down the wing only to be denied by Bush. North had a particularly strong game for the Clan, and was trouble for UBC’s back line throughout the night.
In the 2nd half, former SFU starter Justin Wallace came back to haunt the Clan. He made a great move to create himself space, then buried it into the bottom right corner to give his team a 1–0 lead. A poorly played back pass by SFU almost made it 2–0, but it was cleared off the line. SFU’s best chance to equalize was in the 90th minute. A low whipped cross was mishandled by the UBC keeper, but the Clan weren’t able to put it in the back of the net.
“I thought we played well,” said SFU head coach Clint Schneider after the match. “We really grew a lot in the two weeks as a preseason, and I’m really proud of our guys. We made a mistake on the goal, we told the guys the game would come down to a mistake, and we got punished by it by a good team.”
Despite the close scoreline, there is still much to improve before conference play for the Clan. “I think it’s just polishing some things up,” remarked Schneider. “In the last three preseason games we’ve had a mistake, and we’ve been punished for a mistake every game. Mistake free football is difficult to do, but that’s the goal for our team.”
SFU vs. UBC games are always exciting, and the program looks forward to these fixtures. “We can’t play anyone better to prepare us for our season. . . it’s good for BC soccer when both teams are good, and they’re both good right now.”
The second leg of this fixture will be scheduled at a later date, and it will be at Terry Fox Field. The Clan’s next home game is September 9th, against California State University.
