TORONTO – The Varsity Blues fell 3-0 to the UBC Thunderbirds in the second semifinal of the day at the 2010 CIS men's soccer championship at Varsity Centre, Saturday afternoon.
UBC, who holds the CIS record with 11 national titles, will look for their third-straight win over an OUA competitor when they take on the York Lions in the gold-medal match tomorrow at 4 p.m. The Lions defeated the Saint Mary’s Huskies 1-0 in the first semifinal of the day.
Toronto will face Saint Mary’s in their second consecutive bronze-medal match appearance tomorrow at 1 p.m.
UBC’s Brandon Bonifacio of Vancouver scored the eventual game-winner in the first minute, receiving a low cross from second-yard forward Greg Smith and slotting the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
"A little bit of quality right off the bat put us on our way today,” said UBC head coach Mike Mosher. “It's unbelievable when you can score early, let alone the first minute. It just completely settles a team and puts your opponents on their heels right away.”
“You can’t go into a national championship and play a team like UBC and not have a good start and make an error like that and expect to win the game,” said Varsity Blues head coach Anthony Capotosto.
The Canada West champions went up by two in the 20th minute when Gagandeep Dosnjh of Abbotsford, B.C., sent a pass to Port Moody, B.C., native Navid Mashinchi just outside the six-yard box and made a short kick into the top left corner of the net.
U of T’s Nordo Gooden of Kingston, Jamaica attempted to rally the troops with a few nifty plays, but UBC defender Tyson Keam of Langley, B.C. and keeper Zach Kalthoff were there to keep the ball out of harms way.
The Blues continued to press with a couple of corner kick opportunities in the 25th minute. Both looked promising but sailed just wide of the net. Toronto goalkeeper John Smits of Mississauga, Ont., came up with a big save in the 30th minute as Matthew Allard of Vancouver redirected a UBC free kick deep in Blues territory.
The T-Birds held a 2-0 lead at the half.
Darragh McGee of Donegal, Ireland connected with Fanny Bay, B.C., native and Varsity Blues player of the game Dylan Bams on a corner kick in the opening minutes of the second half; however Kalthoff of Calgary was there to make the diving save.
The Blues peppered Kalthoff with shots in the 55th minute but could not solve the first-year goalkeeper, who ended the match with a game-high six saves.
The T-Birds added an insurance marker in the 68th minute after Blues co-captain Yannis Gianniotis took down Dosanjh inside the 18-yard box. First-year midfielder Alejandro Isern of Barcelona, Spain stepped up for the penalty kick and calmly shot the ball past a diving Smits into the net.
SCORING SUMMARY
UBC: 2-1:3
TOR: 0-0:0
First Half
1. UBC Brandon Bonifacio (2) 1st
2. UBC Navid Mashinchi (1) 24th
Second Half
1. UBC Alejandro Isern (1) 68th
Goalkeepers:
UBC: Zach Kalthoff (W, 0 GA, 6 saves, 90:00 mins)
TOR: John Smits (L, 3 GA, 4 saves, 90:00 mins)
Shots: UBC 11, TOR 10
Shots on Net: UBC 10, TOR 5
Corners: UBC 4, TOR 7
Offsides: UBC 0, TOR 1
Fouls: UBC 15, TOR 7
Yellow Cards: TOR (Yannis Gianniotis, Michael Brathwaite, Federico Vaccaro)
Red Cards: TOR (Nordo Gooden)
Players of the game:
UBC: Gagandeep Dosanjh
TOR: Dylan Bams
SCHEDULE & RESULTS
For all the info on the championship: www.cis-sic.ca.
Thursday, Nov. 11
11:00 Quarterfinal 1: York 3, Laval 2 (4-2 PK)
13:30 Quarterfinal 2: Saint Mary’s 1, Alberta 0
16:00 Quarterfinal 3: UBC 3, Western 2 (4-2 PK)
18:30 Quarterfinal 4: Toronto 5, UQAM 0
Friday, Nov. 12
13:30 Consolation 1: Laval 4, Alberta 0
16:00 Consolation 2: Western 3, UQAM 2
Saturday, Nov. 13
11:00 Semifinal 1: York 1, Saint Mary’s 0
14:00 Semifinal 2: UBC 3, Toronto 0
16:30 Consolation final: Laval vs. Western (SSN Canada webcast)
Sunday, Nov. 14
13:00 Saint Mary’s vs Toronto (SSN Canada webcast)
16:00 York vs UBC (SSN Canada webcast)
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-one universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.
-CIS-
For more information contact:
Mary Beth Challoner
Manager, Events & Marketing
University of Toronto
Off: (416) 946-5131
Cell: (416) 407-3538
mb.challoner@utoronto.ca
Jill Clark
Coordinator, Sports Information
University of Toronto
Off: (416) 978-4263
Cell: (416) 938-1629
jill.clark@utoronto.ca
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Caadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.cis-sic.ca
