T-Birds suffer lopsided loss to Huskies
UBC squad has to make adjustments before season opener against Calgary on Saturday
It wasn’t the dress rehearsal they were hoping for Friday night in Saskatoon.
With its opener scheduled for this coming Saturday at home against the Calgary Dinos, the UBC Thunderbirds will spend the week trying to work out the kinks following a decisive 28-5 preseason loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies.
Saskatchewan held UBC’s offensive unit scoreless until the final 92 seconds, when new kicker Quinn Van Gylswyk booted a 31-yard field goal to wrap up the game’s scoring. UBC, which trailed 11-2 at the half, got its only other points off a second-quarter safety.
Carson Williams, sacked three times by a stingy Huskies defence, started the game at quarterback for UBC, going 8-of-15 for 84 yards. Greg Bowcott played the second half, going 4-of13 for 91 yards.
Saskatchewan’s running game averaged 6.3 yards per carry, part of 453 yards of total offence on the evening. UBC gained 243 yards on the evening.
Men’s soccer
Langley’s Trinity Western Spartans (1-0-2) remained unbeaten in the pre-season, playing to a 1-1 draw Saturday afternoon with visiting Western Washington of Bellingham. After a scoreless half, TWU got a 47th minute goal off a penalty kick from Dominic Reinold. The visiting Vikings, an NCAA Div. 2 side picked to finish fourth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference pre-season coaches poll, equalized in the 57th minute on a Kurtis Pederson goal. TWU opened its season on the road last week against a pair of NCAA Div. 1 teams, beating Cal StateBakersfield 3-1 and drawing 1-1 with San Diego State.
Women’s soccer
Western Washington, ranked No. 12 in the NCAA Div. 2 pre-season poll and picked by its coaches to repeat as conference champs, scored twice in the first 11 minutes and did all of its offensive damage in the opening half to blank the host UBC Thunderbirds 3-0 on Saturday. The Vikings, returning nine starters from a team that went 12-2-0 in the GNAC last season, jumped out to a 1-0 lead on an own goal in the eighth minute. Catherine Miles and Elise Aylward also scored for the visitors.
Field hockey
The Victoria Vikes opened a pre-season tour of the Ivy League in fine fashion on Saturday morning, getting goals from Marin Davidson, Amanda Kurianowicz and Kyla Kirby to beat Yale 3-2 at New Haven, Conn. Victoria, which hosts the 2013 CIS national tournament this season, continues the tour with stops Monday and Tuesday respectively at Harvard and Dartmouth.
Men’s basketball
Ottawa’s dynastic Carleton Ravens were denied what may well have been the greatest signature win by a CIS school over an NCAA Div. 1 foe. Former Vancouver College standout Philip Scrubb scored 14 points, but the Ravens — winners of nine of the past 11 CIS national titles — couldn’t hold on to a 15-point lead, falling 69-65 in overtime Friday to the visiting Syracuse Orange, a Final Four team in March.