Men’s Soccer
Montréal advances to seminfinal, shuts out STFX 3-0
KAMLOOPS – Three goals in a 15-minute span powered the UBC Thunderbirds over the TMU Bold by a score of 4-2 in quarter-final action at the 2022 U SPORTS Men’s Soccer Championship presented by RBC in Kamloops.
Daniel Kaiser, Nick Fussell, Tristan Nkoghe and Victory Shumbusho all scored for UBC, with Faisal Ghaffur and Justin Santos answering for TMU.
Ghaffur and the Bold got the scoring started early when the fourth-year midfielder glanced a header from a cross by Mario McLennon into the back of the net.
From there the rest of the first half belonged to the Thunderbirds.
Daniel Kaiser, UBC’s captain, responded for the Thunderbirds just eight minutes later when he redirected a freekick into the back of the net.
Fussell doubled UBC’s lead in the 28th minute before Victory Shumbusho took a pass from Logan Chung in the 32nd minute of play and buried it into the back of the net to make it three UBC goals in 15 minutes and send the Thunderbirds into the halftime break with the lead.
The Bold fought back in the second frame and only a heroic goal line clearance from Logan Chung denied Ameer Kinani from cutting into the lead 13 minutes after the halftime break.
Santos brought the No. 6 seed Bold back to life in the 72nd minute when he successfully converted a penalty kick but it was a case of too little too late.
Nkoghe put the game out of reach and sent the No. 3 seed Thunderbirds onto the semifinal when he tallied an insurance marker in the 80th minute.
With the win, UBC advances to the national semifinal game at 5 p.m. PT Friday night in Kamloops and will face the RSEQ champion Montreal Carabins. TMU meanwhile will face the STFX X-Men in a consolation semifinal tomorrow at 11:15 PT.
Nike Top Performers
- UBC: Daniel Kaiser
- TMU: Mario McLennon