North Vancouver’s Kristian Yli-Hietanen is on a major hot streak with the UBC Thunderbirds soccer team.
The Sutherland Secondary grad and former Capilano University standout caught fire for the T-Birds recently, scoring seven goals in a three-game stretch, all victories for UBC.
Yli-Hietanen started his scoring binge with a monster four-goal performance in a 7-0 league win over the University of Northern British Columbia Sept. 30 at Thunderbird Stadium. The fourth-year forward then scored the first two goals of the game, the first coming just 52 seconds into the first half, in a 5-0 home win over the University of Victoria Oct. 4.
Yli-Hietanen then took his act on the road, scoring the eventual game-winning goal in a 3-2 victory over UVic in Victoria Oct. 6. He’s now tied for the team lead with eight goals despite starting just five of the team’s 12 league games.
Next up for UBC will be a match against University of the Fraser Valley Friday at Ken Woods Field in Vancouver. The Thunderbirds lead the Canada West league with an undefeated record of 10 wins and two ties.
