Friday, Nov. 2: Cascades (7-6-2 regular season, 1-0 playoffs) at No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds (13-1-2 regular season, 1-0 playoffs), 7 p.m.
Canada West Final Four  |  Winner advances to gold medal match (Sunday, 2 p.m.), loser goes to bronze medal match (Saturday, 7 p.m.)
Vancouver, B.C. – Thunderbird Stadium
Webcast: CanadaWest.tv

The Cascades men's soccer team is off to the Canada West Final Four at UBC this weekend in search of its first U SPORTS national championship berth. To punch their ticket, they require nothing less than a Canada West championship. UBC is also hosting the national tournament, and since they are already guaranteed the host berth, that means there is just one other CW berth up for grabs.

So for UFV to reach the promised land, they'll need to knock off the U SPORTS No. 4-ranked Thunderbirds on their home pitch on Friday, and then defeat the winner of the Trinity Western-Thompson Rivers semi in Sunday's gold medal match.

"If you want to achieve your goals and achieve something special, you've got to beat very good teams along the way," reasoned Cascades head coach Tom Lowndes, whose team posted a tie and a loss vs. UBC during the regular season. "We're playing an excellent team, an attack-minded team, a team that's had a lot of success this season. It's a challenge, and it's one we'll embrace. We'll embrace the underdog title. We've shown this season we're capable of surprising and shocking people a little bit, so hopefully we can go into Friday's game and cause them a few problems."

Players to watch: Fifth-year goalkeeper David Hicks came up huge for the Cascades in their quarter-final win at Saskatchewan, saving three of four attempts in the PK shootout to lift his side to victory. For his efforts, he was named the CW men's second star of the week. He'll have to be at his best once again on Friday against a UBC squad which led the conference in goals with 43. Midfield playmaker Thomas Gardner is at the controls of the offence – he registered six goals and two assists during the regular season, and was subsequently voted the Canada West player of the year and rookie of the year.