Highlanders look to end season on a high

The Victoria Highlanders and Lane United of Eugene, Oregon, will close the books on the 2018 United Soccer League Premier Development League season with both clubs looking for consolation prizes today at 2 p.m. at Centennial Stadium.

The Highlanders are 5-8 following Wednesday’s 2-1 victory in Portland against Timbers U-23, while Lane United is 4-4-5 in the Northwest Division. Neither team will make the playoffs.

“With a win, we can take third spot in the division, which would be a positive ending for us and build confidence in our group for next year,” said Victoria head coach Thomas Niendorf.

“We started to jell and our mentality was very good. There were so many one-goal games we lost but we never gave up. We were always pro-active and took the initiative. But there were too many turnovers and that hurt us.” The lack of finishing did also. “We were probably three quality players short this season,” said Niendorf.

“Among them, we need one or two scorers for next season.”

Nearly 70 per cent of Major League Soccer draft picks since 2010 have had PDL experience, although they are usually listed as having been drafted from their NCAA college teams. There are more than 220 players who have played in the PDL on 2018 MLS rosters.

The Highlanders franchise was essentially rebooted this season with a new ownership group.

“We got started late on the process but people know about our program now, and we have a good reputation on and off the field, and we will be scouring the colleges and universities and are confident of getting a number of players committed for next season,” said Niendorf.