T-wolves hope to prolong playoff chance
Scoreboard watching resumes this afternoon for the UNBC Timberwolves men’s soccer team.
The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack is on the field today in Kelowna to face the UBC-Okanagan Heat (5 p.m. start) and the T-wolves will need all the stars to align in the season-ending weekend to make the Canada West Conference playoffs for the first time in their six-year CIS/U Sports history.
UNBC (5-5-6, fifth in Pacific Division) will cheering for the WolfPack (5-3-5, third place) knowing that if the Heat (55-3, fourth place) loses to TRU today and in the rematch Saturday in Kamloops, the T-wolves’ chances of making the postseason will remain intact.
“We’re pretty big TRU fans right now,” said T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson.
The Victoria Vikings could throw a wrinkle into that possibility if they win both of their remaining two games. The Vikes play on the road Friday at Fraser Valley (4-7-3, seventh place) and Saturday at Trinity Western (6-4-4, second place).
In soccer, a win is worth three points and each team gets one point for a tie.
If the Vikes are held to three points or less and the Heat gain no more than one point out of a possible six in their last two games, UNBC will move into fourth place and will start the playoffs next weekend against Alberta.
The T-wolves have completed the regular season and have a bye this weekend, which makes it even more agonizing, knowing their own playoff destiny is completely out of their hands.
“Lots has to happen but it’s not farfetched for UVic to lose a game out of two and we need TRU to only tie once against Okanagan and if that happens, which is also very possible, then we’re in,” said Simonson. “We’re not celebrating yet, but we’re not despondent.”
The T-wolves went down to Abbotsford to finish off their season Monday with a 1-0 win over Fraser Valley, a game originally scheduled for Saturday that was postponed by snow in Prince George. They have 21 points, seven more than they finished the season with in 2016, and they’ve never before been a playoff possibility heading into the last weekend of the season.
“We’ve played out our hand and the reality is we’re pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished,” said Simonson.
The UNBC women also have a shot at making the Canada West playoffs. Six of the eight teams in the Pacific Division make the cut and UNBC (3-7-2) currently ranks sixth with two games left this weekend – Saturday afternoon at Thompson Rivers and Sunday afternoon at UBC-Okanagan. The T-wolves need at least one more win to lock up what would be their first-ever Canada West playoff berth. Both their opponents this weekend have inferior records. TRU (3-8-1) ranks seventh in the Pacific while UBC-Okanagan (1-9-2) is eighth. If the T-wolves win Friday, they’re in. If they tie with TRU, they would still need a win over the Heat to claim the final playoff berth. If UNBC loses to the WolfPack, they would have to beat the Heat in Kelowna and have Thompson Rivers tie or lose to Grant MacEwan on Sunday.
“We’re in a positive position and we’re positive because its a position the program hasn’t been in the past,” said UNBC women’s team head coach Neil Sedgwick. “It will be a tough game for us. TRU has playoff aspirations and they’ve been playing very well of late.”
The T-wolves did themselves a huge favour last weekend when they beat Manitoba 1-0 and tied Winnipeg 0-0 for a four-point roadtrip. That’s a far cry from last season’s results when UNBC hosted the two teams and lost 4-0 to Winnipeg and 5-0 to Manitoba to begin an 0-12-1 season.
“I’m extremely pleased and proud of the team for the way they performed,” said Sedgwick. “Manitoba’s a tough team and they were able to get the result against them. Winnipeg has some weapons and we were able to manage them defensively and created a lot, so there were some positives we took out of that.”
UNBC goalie Brooke Molby, a rookie from Squamish, will be looking for her third-straight shutout Saturday. She took on the starting role when Madi Doyle went down with a injury early in the season.
“It starts at the front, our strikers have been defending well, midfield have been fantastic, and the back four near the end of the season they found their rhythm and they did things very well together,” said Sedgwick.
“We’ve got a really good rhythm going this weekend and we’re just looking to take that next step.”
UNBC has five seniors – Tianna Rosi, Rhianne Fernandina, Tianna Pius, Fiona Raymond and Sidney Roy – who don’t want their university careers to end this weekend.