By Dan Marshall

Three Nanaimo soccer teams compete in VISL Cup games

Apr 1, 2017 | 9:57 AM

NANAIMO — Three local soccer teams have VISL championship games to play this weekend.

Division 1 Nanaimo United FC will play for the Jackson Cup on Sunday, the Division 3B Mid-Isle Mariners will compete for the George Pearkes Challenge Cup on Saturday, and the U21 Mariners will go after the George Smith Cup also on Saturday.

In total there are four VISL Championship games, all to be played at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria.

Nanaimo United goes up against Cowichan LMH at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, and they’ll have their hands full with the defending Jackson Cup champs.

United coach Lucian Serban says Nanaimo lost 3-2 and 4-1 to Cowichan in the regular season.

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“We’ll step on the pitch respecting them but not fearing them,” Serban said. “We’ll just try to do our best and play our game.”

In the VISL semi-final United beat the VI Wave 3-1, so the squad has a lot of confidence heading into the championship game.

It’s been a long wait since Nanaimo’s last Division 1 championship, with the drought going back to 1999.

This year’s version of United is full of strong players, according to Serban.

He says he doesn’t have just one or two go-to guys, so there will be some difficult lineup decisions for the Jackson Cup game. 

As for the two Mariners teams vying for Cup victories, Serban said there is some collaboration between the squads, but the Division 3B and U21 teams are more associated with Vancouver Island University.

He hopes to see the Nanaimo soccer community rally together so there is even more co-operation among all the different levels in the future.

When the dust settles after this weekend a common thread among the VISL teams could be championship wins.

dan.marshall@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @danmarshall77