Thunderbirds Week: UBC look to make it a perfect ten as they host U SPORTS women’s soccer nationals, while Thompson Rivers look to make more history

(Photo: Rich Lam/UBC Thunderbirds)

It’s quite a special year for college football here in British Columbia. Both the men’s and the women’s U SPORTS Nationals are being held in the province, with Victoria’s Centennial Stadium hosting the men’s championship and Vancouver’s Thunderbird Stadium hosting the women’s one.

For UBC, this will be the first time that they’ve hosted the women’s nationals since 2015. They won it that year, the sixth of their record nine titles, and will head into this week ranked number one in the country after clinching their third straight Canada West title, where they’ll face 8th ranked RSEQ runners-up, and two-time U SPORTS champs, Laval in Thursday’s quarter-final.

The Thunderbirds have been dominant in Canada West in recent years and haven’t lost a conference match-up in over three years. This year’s attack has been spearheaded by third year forward Maddy Norman, who tied the single season Canada West record with 22 points during the regular season. She’s added to that tally in the playoffs and heads into nationals with 16 goals, 11 assists, a Canada West Player of the Year award, and a U SPORTS All-Canadian accolade.

UBC haven’t conceded many goals either in that time and are looking to make it a perfect 10 titles, by adding to their record-setting championship haul. Last year they were denied an unprecedented threepeat by Montreal in a cold and snowy championship game out east. This year, the worst weather they’ll have to put up with is the rain, but the chance to win the title again on home turf has everyone at the Thunderbirds excited for what lies ahead this week.

“I’m pumped,” UBC head coach Jesse Symons told us. “The energy [for the Canada West championship game] was electric. I know that this week, with the amount that the school has been marketing it, it’s going to be an electric Thursday night. We put ourselves in the best place possible to get the best seeding, so super proud of the team for that.”

UBC 2026 U SPORTS All Canadians – Sophia Ferreira, Maddy Norman, Felicia Hanisch

The team that looks to be the most likely one in their way to glory are the defending champions, 2nd seeded Montreal.

The Carabins just secured their 10th RSEQ championship, beating UBC’s quarter-final opponents Laval in this month’s final. It capped off another perfect season for Montreal – 16 wins from 16 matches, all of which they managed by conceding just one solitary goal.

Rafaelle Robitaille-Bourgeois led their scoring with six goals, with three other players adding five apiece. It was their defensive play that drew the plaudits in the end of season awards, however, with third year centre-back Blessing Mayi Kith being named U SPORTS Player of the Year, to go with her RSEQ Player of the Year award.

National honours are no new thing for the 24-year-old, who was named U SPORTS Rookie of the Year in 2024, but she became the first defender in 14 years to bring home the main honour, a testament to how defensively resolute this Carabins side have become.

“It’s surreal, I didn’t expect to win,” Mayi Kith told AFTN after the U SPORTS awards banquet in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday evening. “As a centre back, I don’t really have much expectations for this type of award. They’re mostly given to strikers! But I’m super grateful and very happy, but also in shock at the same time.

“As centre backs we do work hard, we do deserve to shine, so hopefully this award can also motivate every centre back. We do deserve to get recognised at the same time and I’m just super happy.”

Montreal head into this year’s nationals as defending champions, after winning their third U SPORTS title last year. Mayi Kith was part of that team and the message from the coaching staff to the team for this week was a simple one, go and do it again.

“They’ve been telling us to just stay true to ourselves,” Mayi Kith said. “Yes, we did win last year but this year’s a new year so we have to work just as hard as last year, keep our standards high, and if everyone in the group puts in the work, we can do anything.”

U SPORTS 2026 Player of the Year – Blessing Mayi Kith (Montreal Carabins)

This will be Montreal’s 15th appearance at nationals and the side with the very tough task of taking on the defending champions in the quarter-finals are a school making their very first appearance at the championships, Thompson Rivers Wolfpack.

Led by head coach Mark Pennington, it’s been a fantastic year for the side from Kamloops, who will head into nationals seeded 7th. Making the Canada West Final Four for only the second time in program history, they won silver medals after having little left in the tank when they faced UBC in the Championship game, having gone through 120 minutes and penalties to beat the University of Victoria Vikes just 18 hours before.

What has been refreshing to watch about the Wolfpack this year has been the joy in which they play every game. The camaraderie Pennington has instilled in the squad is plain to see, and hear on the sidelines, and they play an attractive brand of free-flowing football. A key to that attacking play is experienced Albanian forward Esi Lufo.

The 25-year-old is in her final year of the program and decided to head to Canada for an education and an experience, having won a slew of league titles in her native Albania, having played in the UEFA Champions League, and been capped by her country. The “Tirana Terror” knows her way to goal and scored an absolute beauty of a free kick in the Canada West championship game against UBC.

The Wolfpack have in fact been the only team to score against the Thunderbirds all year. Three goals in three different matches. They know how to find a way to get past the best and they’ll have to do that again now at nationals, going up against a team in Montreal that have conceded just once all year.

“We’ve been working hard for this, we really wanted this moment to come,” Lufo told AFTN. “We showed up for every single game and we took our opportunity. We feel happy, we feel grateful, and we hope we can keep this going for the next years too.

“Scoring against UBC was a great feeling. That was the only team left for me that I hadn’t scored against yet, so it was amazing. I felt good after the game, even though we lost, but for the next game, yeah, Montreal have a good team obviously. I’ll do my best as always. I cannot promise, but I’ll find a weak spot and I’ll hit them, hopefully.”

TRU’s Mark Pennington and Esi Lufo (photo courtesy of TRU Wolfpack)

Keeping the Carabins out at the other end is the other huge task the Wolfpack face. 47 goals from 15 different scorers is what they’re up against and the woman tasked with keeping Montreal at bay is another Thompson Rivers’ international recruit, second year Dutch goalkeeper Floor Ursem.

Ursem has had a fantastic second season in Kamloops and was named to both the Canada West and U SPORTS first XI sides. Having played pro in her native Netherlands, the keeper wanted to be able to still play soccer at a high level, but to also go to school. The Wolfpack came calling and she’s enjoyed the whole experience so far. Ursem knows the tough task facing her and the team in Thursday’s quarter-final, but she says they’re ready for it.

“For us just to be here, is one of the greatest things,” Ursem told us. “We, as a team, proved ourselves all season long. We’re a great team right now and we’re just fired up for the game, even though they’re a great team. We’ll play our best and we’ll see what the outcome is.

“We just got to play like we always play. Go in hard and just be ourselves, that’s the most important thing. I don’t think we need to change a lot. We’re just TRU and we’ll play like TRU.”

Langley’s Trinity Western Spartans are the second most decorated university at this year’s tournament, but head into this year’s tournaments as the 6th seeds, after an up and down season that saw them book their berth with a tense extra time win over the UVic Vikes in the Canada West bronze medal match. The five-time national champions will be looking to make it a good week for BC schools in the first quarter-final of the day, when they get the action underway at 11 a.m. against the Ottawa GeeGees.

Led by the 19-goal Sabrina Mangiaracina, 3rd ranked Ottawa have a couple of national titles of their own and come into the tournament on the back of a record-breaking 13th OUA championship.

2026 U SPORTS Coach of the Year – Shayne Campbell (Guelph Gryphons)

The team that Ottawa beat in the OUA final were Guelph Gryphons. Led by U SPORTS Coach of the Year Shayne Campbell, that defeat was Guelph’s only loss of the year so far, having posted a perfect 12 & 0 regular season.

They come into the tournament as the 4th seeds and will be looking to try and lift their first ever U SPORTS title, kicking things off against 5th seeded Dalhousie Tigers. The Halifax university have three U SPORTS titles to their name, the last of which came in 2000, and this will be the AUS champions first trip to nationals since 2012.

You can catch all the action from Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon on CBC Gem and CBC Sports.

For more chat with the head coaches of UBC, TRU, and TWU, check out the last AFTN Soccer Show HERE.