VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds women's soccer team is preparing to meet two provincial rivals this weekend. The 'Birds and the Victoria Vikes are old foes with many great battles between them. The Fraser Valley Cascades don't have a long history in the CIS, but UFV beat UBC 2-0 last year to claim the Canada West championship.
GAME TIMES
Friday, October 7 – Fraser Valley at No. 7 UBC (5:00 p.m. at Thunderbird Park, Vancouver)
Saturday, October 8 – Victoria at No. 7 UBC (5:00 p.m. at Thunderbird Park, Vancouver)
No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds
2011 conference record: 5-1-1 (3rd)
2011 CIS ranking: 7
Last week: beat Regina 2-0, beat Manitoba 5-0
Streak: 2 wins
The T-Birds would be looking at a perfect season so far if not for their goalless trip to the Prairies two weeks ago that ended in their only tie and loss of the year. Outside of those two games against Alberta and Saskatchewan, the T-Birds are 5-0-0 on the season with 14 goals for and none against.
The T-Birds have six shutouts and just two goals allowed at the halfway point of the regular season schedule. There's still plenty of soccer left to be played, but they are actually on pace to break the Canada West records for least goals allowed in a season (six, held by both the 2002 and 2008 UBC teams) and most shutouts in a season (10, also held by the 2008 UBC team).
Coach Mark Rogers' preseason praise for the defensive pairing of team captain and Canada West All-Star
Kelly Cook (5th, Maple Ridge, BC) and
Alisha Penev (2nd, Burnaby, BC) is certainly being backed up by the on-field product. Fifth-year defender
Diane Rizzardo (Vancouver, BC) and third-year
Jordan Kitagawa (Delta, BC) have also been strong at the back for UBC, starting every game so far this year.
As good as the defence has been, the T-Birds also have the luxury of elite scorer
Janine Frazao (3rd, Port Moody, BC) up front. She is coming off a four-goal weekend that earned her Canada West Female Athlete of the Week honours and also vaulted her into a tie for the league scoring race with seven on the year. Her partner up front,
Rachael Sawer (3rd, North Vancouver, BC), is also having a nice season with three goals so far.
Victoria Vikes
2011 conference record: 4-2-2 (tie 4th)
2011 CIS ranking: -
Last week: tied Calgary 1-1, beat Lethbridge 5-1
Streak: 1 win
The Vikes are coming off back to back weekends against Calgary and Lethbridge in which they went 3-0-1 to climb back into the playoff race after a slow start to the season.
The Vikes have yet to see anyone emerge as a primary scorer, with four players tied at two goals for the team lead. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, as the Vikes seem to have a lot of options offensively. Ten different players have scored for them this year and as a team they are third in Canada West scoring.
Former Canada West All Star midfielder Sarah Clark is the only fifth-year on a relatively young Victoria squad. Fellow midfielders Tessa Margetts and Natalie Scharf are the only other seniors on the squad, not counting goalkeepers.
That's not to say the Vikes don't have enough experience to compete with the T-Birds.
Second-year midfielder Jaclyn Sawicki, who was named to the Canadian national team roster for a series of exhibition games, has a goal and three assists to her credit despite having missed two games due to her national team commitments. She is coming off a very strong showing against Lethbridge and Calgary, so the 'Birds will likely have their hands full in the middle of the park against Sawicki and the senior midfielders around her.
Fraser Valley Cascades
2011 conference record: 3-3-2 (7th)
2011 CIS ranking: -
Last week: beat Lethbridge 2-0, lost to Calgary 1-0
Streak: 1 loss
The Cascades have fallen on hard times since their 2-0-0 start to the year. The defending CIS bronze medalists have just one win in six games since then, and are in need of a big weekend if they want to stay afloat in the ultra competitive race for conference playoff spots.
Fraser Valley managed a 2-0 win over Lethbridge last week - the first time they scored more than one goal in a game since opening weekend - and then dropped a 1-0 decision to Calgary. The Cascades rank in the middle of the back both offensively and defensively, which is a little surprising considering most of their key offensive pieces that helped power the team to a Canada West title last year are back.
Team-leading scorers Megan Webster and Ellen Kuyer scored eight and seven goals respectively last year, but have managed just four combined through half the new season. Second-year forward Danika Snook does have a pair of goals to her credit, but the Cascades need a much greater scoring punch if they want to climb the ladder back into playoff position in the second half of the season.
-30-
