Ready to make history
Undefeated CBU Capers women’s soccer team going for gold in Winnipeg
Before the Cape Breton University women’s soccer team even laced up their cleats this year, history was on their minds.
At the beginning of the season the club had a reunion for all women’s soccer alumni to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2007 Capers squad that won a national championship in 2007.
And it had an impact on many players, including Tamara Brown.
The all-star midfielder, who is in her fifth and final season with the Capers, said meeting some of the players from that historymaking team gave her a better appreciation for the school’s soccer program.
“We got to see the foundation of where it all started, the traditions, the old Capers team and how it has still stayed the same throughout the years. It was great to see where it all started,” said Brown. “We wouldn’t be there without them.”
Now, Brown, who scored the game-winner Sunday as the Capers won their ninth AUS conference banner, and her teammates will set out to repeat history as they head to Winnipeg where the Manitoba Bisons are hosting the U Sports women’s soccer championship.
Their first game is a Thursday quarter-final match against the Victoria Vikes.
If anything, on paper this year’s club is even better than the national championship team. They sported an undefeated 11-0-1 regular season record, compared to an impressive 11-1-1 finish in 2007. The team also eclipsed the previous club record of 48 goals set in 2007 by potting 50 — the most in the nation this year — and gave up just four — three fewer than in 2007.
According to Brown and fellow graduating players Alyssa Armstrong and Robyn Novorolsky, the team plays just as well together off the field.
“We’ve created friendships that will last a lifetime, which sounds really cheesy, but when the girls from the reunion came this year, you just looked back
at how some of them are still best friends to this day,” said Armstrong, a midfielder from St. John’s N.L., and first-team AUS all-star the past two seasons. “We made it a point to make sure that on and off the field that we create that bond and it plays through in practices in games, and just when we hang out in school and stuff.”
Novorolsky, a Richmond Hill, Ont., native and AUS all-star centre back each of her five seasons, said after winning AUS titles in 2013 and 2015, only to fall short in nationals, has only made the team hungrier.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say there’s pressure, it’s more just that sense that you’ve tasted it
before, you know what it is. You know you’re capable, you just want to do your best. We’ve said it all this year, as a team we’ve just meshed so well together and we’ve been playing so well and we know we’re just capable of dong so much. We just want to see it go through.”
CBU head coach Stephen (Ness) Timmons said Brown, Armstrong, Novorolsky, fifthyear keeper Lysianne Trottier and other returning players deserve the credit for making the team such a close-knit group.
“I give credit to the seniors for building the chemistry and camaraderie within the team. That goes a long way too in the bigger picture, and when you
look back on teams it’s not always just about the wins and the losses but the experience of going through a university varsity program with your friend, who you really get close to.”
He said while the 10-year anniversary isn’t something he puts much stock into, he’s happy if it provides motivation.
“I’m not superstitious. However, we are always looking for an edge and if that clicks with some people, that’s OK too because really it’s a mental game as much as a physical game when you get to this level and you’re rolling in there with the top eight teams now in Canada and it’s a one-game situation where you go right into the medal with that quarter-final game. You try to get every edge you can and you try to be in the best psychological state that you can.”