By Dan Marshall

VIU Mariners start title quest at CCAA Women’s Soccer Nationals

Nov 9, 2016 | 11:04 AM

MONTREAL — It’s a coaches dream to have a team playing at their peak at playoff time.

Anup Kang is experiencing that first hand with his VIU Mariners women’s soccer team. The Mariners won both their games at the provincials in Burnaby to win the PACWEST championship. They also won their final three regular season games by a combined score of 12-0. Earlier this week the VIU team arrived in Montreal and Kang says they had a good training session on Tuesday.

Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. the Mariners open the CCAA Nationals against the host team from Ahuntsic College. Kang says the opposition has some recent experience on the national stage.   

“They’re a very good team, they’ve medaled at the Nationals on a consistent basis. They were bronze medalists last year and we need to be ready and focused,” said Kang.

With VIU being the team at the Nationals from the farthest away, there’s very little pressure. Kang hopes the expectations on Ahuntsic as the host team will give the Mariners an advantage.

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“Playing the host team there’s a lot of pressure on them. So we need to get on them early and try to get that first goal. That will really settle us down and lead to good things for the rest of the game,” said Kang.

No matter what, VIU will play on Thursday, but Wednesday’s result will decide if the Mariners are in the championship bracket or the consolation bracket.