Rivalry rekindled on Burnaby Mountain
WOMEN'S SOCCER: CIS champs UBC, NCAA’s Simon Fraser draw in first non-spring meeting in eight years
If it had been far too long since the women’s soccer teams from UBC and Simon Fraser last met in an in-season derby, then at least Saturday’s pre-season crosstown clash atop Burnaby Mountain came at a time when the health of the game locally has never been stronger.
Rebuilt from the ashes of a onewin conference season in 2013, SFU’s NCAA Div. 2 Clan appeared on the verge of claiming a signature win when Olivia Aguiar headed home a corner kick from Teagan McManus in the 60th minute for the game’s first goal.
But the UBC Thunderbirds, the defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport national champions, managed to salvage a 1-1 draw when Sydney Jennings stole the ball in close and fired home the equalizer in the 84th minute.
“Honestly, you just want to play harder and this game can mean more than the games we play in CIS because these are our rivals,” said Jasmin Dhanda, the reigning national tournament MVP who was dominant in attack throughout Saturday’s match, the first non-spring meeting between the two schools in eight years.
Last November, as host of the CIS tournament, UBC completed a storybook 19-1-3 season by winning the school’s 100th national title in its 100th year of existence.
The team they beat that day, Langley’s Trinity Western Spartans, are back and better than ever. As well, as the 2016 Canada West conference season begins later this week, Abbotsford’s Fraser Valley Cascades have slowly worked themselves right into the heart of the rivalry.
And while the Clan’s athletic affiliation casts them on their own separate journey through the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, they have become a team to watch under third-year head coach Annie Hamel.
“It’s a big task to change a culture,” said Hamel, whose 2015 team went 5-6-1 in the conference, missing a berth in the GNAC tournament only after a double-overtime loss to Western Oregon on the final day of the regular season.
“But it’s impossible to ignore us anymore. Everybody has good soccer programs in the Lower Mainland, but we’re different because we’re NCAA and it’s getting people to pay attention.”
The Clan is set to embark on three important non-conference regional games beginning Sept. 2 at home to San Francisco’s Academy of Art. SFU opens GNAC play at Central Washington Sept. 22 before hosting Western Washington in its conference home opener Sept. 24. “I think the end of last season was probably the most devastating thing that could have happened to us,” said Aguiar of the near miss. “But in retrospect, it was probably the greatest thing because now we know how far we can go. We have some fire in us. We just want to go out and kick some butt. I don’t know how else to say it.”
SFU, despite missing out on a berth in the GNAC tournament last season, still served as its host. As part of a two-year agreement, they hope to take part themselves when they again host at Terry Fox Field beginning Nov. 3. UBC? “I honestly think this group is even more motivated than last year’s,” said Birds head coach Jesse Symons, the longtime Whitecaps girls coach who joined the team this year after last season’s coach, Marisa Kovacs, elected not to return.
“What I was excited about today was that even when we went down 1-0, we kept the ball and we kept trying to do the things we wanted,” said Symons, whose side is loaded with returning talent like Dhanda, defenders Aman Shergill, Meagan Pasternak, Madison Guy and midfielder Jasmine Mander. “Last year, this team had no adversity. They were always up one-nil and never behind. We’re in a good space and we’re excited to see what next week brings.”
Of course that is the start of league play and UBC begins official defence of its conference and national title when they travel to Victoria Saturday for a 2 p.m. clash with the host Vikes.