SEASON READY
Darren Zary examines what we need to know as the Husky soccer squads prepare to face their opponents on the pitch.
The University of Saskatchewan Huskies men’s soccer side gets an early start to Canada West conference play this season.
The Huskies open the 2017 season at home Saturday and Sunday with a two-game set against the visiting University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.
Meanwhile, the U of S women’s team — fresh off a preseason tournament in Regina — open the Canada West season on the road Sept. 8-9 in Manitoba before returning home Sept. 16-17 to host the Thompson Rivers WolfPack and UBC Okanagan Heat.
1 Earlier start
“Traditionally, we’re September long weekend or the following weekend, but that’s our cycle this year — this year’s a little different so it seems like pre-season but expectations are the same,” says U of S men’s coach Bryce Chapman.
“Every year, we want to make sure we’re putting ourselves in a good position to make the playoffs and a good position to get ourselves in the (Canada West) Final Four.”
2 Playoff push
In Canada West soccer, the top four teams in each division (Prairie and Pacific) qualify for the playoffs and cross over in quarter-final play.
Out of those eight playoff qualifiers, the four winners advance to the Canada West Final Four.
Last year, Saskatchewan’s men finished fifth in the Prairie Division and missed out on the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Huskies women recorded an all-time program best in 2016 by earning its first U Sports national championship berth after finishing third in the Canada West.
On the men’s side, the University of Winnipeg Wesmen have dropped out of the league so there’s one less team.
3 Returning core
Among the key returnees on the Huskies men’s squad are newly anointed captain Jacob Powell and Marcello Gonzalez, Gabriel Buatois and Bryce Marinus.
“Those are guys who have been with us for the three- or fouryear windows,” Chapman says. “We’re looking for those guys to pull the young guys together. So far, from what we’ve seen, we’ve got 21 guys on the roster and they’re a tight group already. There’s a lot of cohesion and a lot of excitement amongst them.”
The Huskies women feature a more veteran squad with 18 returnees and eight rookies in training camp.
Among the key veterans are keeper Kyleigh Vause, striker Leesa Eggum, midfielder Jessica Bradford, defender Jennifer Miller, midfielder Rebecca Weckworth, striker Julie Labach and striker Kayla Ahenakew.
“We have a very good mix of senior players that give us stability and experience, and rookies that we believe will have the potential to take our program to new heights,” U of S women’s coach Jerson Barandica-Hamilton says. “We are motivated and excited for the challenge to keep achieving program-bests.”
4 New faces on men’s team
On the men’s side, the Huskies welcome a heavy recruiting class featuring the likes of newcomers Zach Edwards, Kwami Opoku, Joseph Powell, Patrick Pranger, Ekior-Dourde Mieyefa, Diego Godoy, Jordan Verones, Aidan Taylor, Kassim Ali, Adam Pazuik and University of Winnipeg transfers Tobias HyrichKrueger and Joshua Dielman.
“It’s one of those cycles where we had the opportunity to get a good handful of first-year recruits,” Chapman says, “so I think we came in with (a dozen) new guys, new faces, coming in, some necessities, some holes we needed to fill and build for the future.”
5 Women add eight
The U of S women’s recruiting class includes McKenna Olson, Emma Manson, Megan Ripplinger, Jocelyn Hudson, Heidi Zwack, Ally Labach, Claudia Erikson and Sydney Kerr.
“Our recruits will bring an immediate desire to contribute as they have a very high competitive drive to push our existing standards to new levels of success,” Barandica-Hamilton says.