By Dan Marshall

VIU women’s soccer team builds towards fall season with exhibition games

Mar 22, 2017 | 11:01 AM

NANAIMO — The PACWEST soccer season doesn’t start until September but the VIU women’s team is staying at the top of their game with some off-season exhibition matches.

On Wednesday they’ll host the Canadian Forces Women’s National Team at 7 p.m. in Ladysmith. The military team is training in Victoria and contacted the Mariners about setting up an exhibition match.

VIU Coach Anup Kang expects the Canadian Forces team to be very talented but he hasn’t seen the squad first hand.

The Mariners season ended in November at the CCAA Nationals and Kang says after a couple of months off, the team has resumed practicing.

“In January we started training again. We bring in new recruits and our returning players, and we play pick-up games monthly,” Kang said.

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VIU also played a pair of games on the weekend losing 1-0 to UNBC and winning 1-0 against TRU.

Kang has high expectations for his team in 2017 with seven or eight starters back and three strong local commitments from Julia Clark, Georgia Nicholls, and Shea Battie.

“They all traveled with us and were just fantastic for us in the two weekend games,” Kang said. “We think they’re going to be impact players for us as we move on.” 

This coming November the VIU men’s team will host the CCAA soccer nationals and there is a potential for the women to host in 2018.

Kang says hosting the 2018 nationals will also hinge on a possible move by Vancouver Island University out of the CCAA and up into the U Sports level. U Sports includes 56 of the top Canadian schools like McGill, UBC, and Ryerson.

“Our goal here right now is to get ready for this season and then we’re possibly moving up to U Sports the following season,” he said. “That’s up to the administration right now and for them to decide where we’re at, but there’s a very good possibility we might be hosting nationals in 2018.”

After Wednesday’s exhibition game, the Mariners will play some friendlies against boys teams out of the VIPL. The next month will also be the wrap up to the recruiting season. Kang has made several recruiting trips already, including stops in Vancouver and Victoria.

dan.marshall@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @danmarshall77