Sydney, NS – The UBC Thunderbirds nipped the STFX X-Men 2-1 in the second quarterfinal matchup of the 2023 U SPORTS men's soccer championships on Thursday afternoon.

Both teams came out aggressive and fast in the opening of the game. Charlie Waters created a good scoring change for the X-Men early on as he had a nice pass through to U SPORTS all-rookie Isaac VanWychen but his low shot went wide of the UBC net.

The Thunderbirds had a great scoring chance in the 20th minute but their header off a corner kick went over the crossbar of the STFX net. They kept the pressure on and Sam Diltz made several key saves in the X net to keep his squad in the game.

Sebastian Dzikowski, the 2023 U SPORTS player of the year and national goal-scoring leader got things started for the seventh-seeded Thunderbirds in the 45th minute of the first half. Thomas Pena pushed the ball past two defenders before tapping it back through multiple X-Men to find Dzikowski as UBC took the 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Logan Rieck had a solid chance for the X-Men early in the second chance on a well struck free kick but Thunderbirds keeper Bennett McKay got his hand on it to redirect it just over the top of the net.

UBC had a nice three-way passing play in the 52^nd minute when Logan Chung found Luke Norman near the penalty spot to beat X-Men goalkeeper Diltz near post, making it 2-0 Thunderbirds.

The X-Men had consecutive corner kicks in the 68^th and 69^th minute but were unable to convert on their set pieces. They were finally able to find the back of the net in the 74^th minute when captain Lewis Dye got up high with a header off of another corner kick to cut the deficit to just one.

Despite pressuring for the equalizer late in the game, the X-Men could not complete the comeback before time ran out.

The Thunderbirds will go on to face the Montréal Carabins in the first of two semifinals tomorrow at 4 p.m. (Atlantic), while the X-Men will take on the Carleton Ravens at 11 a.m. in a consolation semifinal match.

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Nike Team players of the game:

UBC: Markus Kaiser
STFX: Lewis Dye