VANCOUVER, BC - Saskatchewan Huskies fell to the UBC Thunderbirds 4-2 at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday night.

UBC came out hot with a goal from VIctory Shumbusho at 1:55. He would go on to score first half hat-trick, with UBC's Daniel Kaiser also getting on the scoresheet in the first 45 minutes. The Huskies had tied things up through a wonder goal from Ahmed Mohammed, but the Thunderbirds responded with an attacking blitz to get the job done.
 
The Thunderbirds piled on the pressure looking for a second and they came within inches of getting it when Nick Fussell's flicked effort was expertly turned around the post by Huskies keeper Jaron Slopinski from point blank range, the first of four huge saves from the Saskatchewan keeper in the first half.
 
The home side were shocked by a 13th minute Huskies equaliser when Mohammed powered forward for Saskatchewan and with UBC backing off, the forward unleashed a 30 yard rocket that beat Peter Whyte into the bottom corner to tie things up.
 
That proved to be a wake up call for the Thunderbirds who immediately found another level and turned up the pressure on the visitors.
 
Slopinski produced another great stop to deny Tommy Gardner, who had danced through the Huskies defence in the 18th minute. Gardner sent in a free kick into the back of the box and it was knocked on by Shumbusho for Kaiser to head home from a few yards out.
 
Moments later and it was three when Logan Chung was pulled down in the box and Shumbusho stepped up to drill home the subsequent penalty.
 
Shumbusho nearly grabbed his hat-trick in the 36th minute with an effort that was denied by an equally great save from Slopinski, but the senior striker was not to be denied and got his third with a tap in after some great work from Markus Kaiser to send the ball in across goal.
 
Both teams had half chances as the game flowed from end to end but the clear cut goalscoring opportunities were hard to come by.
 
UBC substitute Tristan Nkoghe crashed one off the bar in the 88th minute but Saskatchewan immediately went up the pitch and grabbed a late consolation from Bekwayo.
 
Lighting a fire under the visitors, they nearly reduced the deficit to one in stoppage time with Diego Raveco's dipping long-ranger forcing an acrobatic save from Whyte.
 
That was to be all the time left and UBC booked another Canada West Final Four berth. Saskatchewan will end their season with a 3-7-4 regular season record.