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Aman Shergill has such an appetite for destruction on the soccer pitch that when the stakes are raised and the recipe calls for the rarest of ingredients, she does what comes naturally.

She sticks out her tongue.

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“My brother Joey told me about that,” begins the UBC Thunderbirds’ fourth-year standout. “He said ‘Dude, you do the same thing that Michael Jordan did.’ I didn’t even realize I did it until I’d saw pictures of myself playing.”

Last Saturday in Edmonton, those stakes were about as high as you could imagine.

Defending national champion UBC trailed the host Alberta Pandas 2-0 at halftime of the sudden-death Canada West opening-round playoff clash at Foote Field, and Birds head coach Jesse Symons pulled Shergill aside and told her that he was shifting her from a spot at central defence to a place in the attacking third.

“I told her it was the time to make it her moment,” said Symons, who proceeded to watch a Jordanesque performance in which Shergill, perhaps the most versatile player in the nation, scored three goals in a span of just under 15 minutes, including the winner, which she teed up and lasered home from 30 yards out to cap a 3-2 win. “She looked to go to goal every time and you knew nothing was going to stop her. She took this team on her shoulders.”