In pursuit of playoffs
Key weekend for UNBC soccer teams
They have four games left in the regular season and are one spot out of the playoff picture. So for the UNBC Timberwolves, road games this weekend against the UBC Okanagan Heat are about as important as they get. The UNBC men’s soccer team faces UBCO today and Sunday in Kelowna, both contests at 3 p.m. In the Pacific Division of Canada West, the Timberwolves currently sit fifth with a 4-5-3 record and are chasing the fourth-place Thompson Rivers University WolfPack of Kamloops (4-2-5) for the final playoff position.
The UNBC players are well aware that a win or two against the Heat would go a long way to getting them into the postseason for the first time in their program’s six-year Canada West history.
“There is good, positive internal pressure to achieve our goals, but there is very little external pressure which gives us a great opportunity,” said UNBC midfielder Liam Stewart. “We believe in our abilities to get the job done and that eventual goal... the big playoffs word.”
UNBC is coming off an impressive split with the UBC Thunderbirds (1-0 win, 4-1 loss at home last Friday and Saturday) but knocking off the Heat won’t be easy. UBCO, with a mark of 5-3-1, holds down second place in the Pacific and is on a two-game winning streak. Last weekend, the Heat downed Trinity Western 1-0 and beat University of the Fraser Valley 3-0.
“We know we are going to have to work hard,” Stewart said. “UBCO is a really good side and they had a good weekend for their own playoff ambitions. They’re fast, and their pitch is turf, but I think we will be well prepared with a week of training. We will be ready, for sure.
“If we play our game, like we demonstrated this past weekend, we can beat anyone. If we focus on our systems defensively, moving forward, keeping the ball and doing our job, we believe we can beat anyone.”
After this weekend, the Timberwolves will end the regular season at home with a doubleheader against UFV. The Cascades – who face Trinity Western today and Sunday – are currently sixth in the division with a 3-5-2 record but hold two games in hand on the T-wolves.
Meanwhile, the UNBC women’s soccer team is in its own battle for playoffs. The female Timberwolves have a grip on the sixth and last spot in the Pacific and, this weekend, will be taking on the team directly above them in the standings, the Grant MacEwan Griffins of Edmonton. UNBC has a 2-5-1 record and MacEwan is 4-4.
To make playoffs – also for the first time – the T-wolves must hold off Thompson Rivers (1-7-1) and UBCO (0-6-3).
“For us, it’s about our growth and really developing our program,” UNBC midfielder Kaitlyn Chojnacki said of the push for a playoff spot. “If we make it this year, it will be amazing. We’re just going to play for each other, and what happens, happens when we play our game.”
The T-wolves and Griffins will kick off at noon Pacific time today and at 11 a.m. on Sunday.