Men’s Soccer Starts Saturday

By David Kent. The University of the Fraser Valley Cascades men’s soccer team will play seven exhibition preseason matches before they open up the 2013 Canada West regular season against their arch rivals Trinity Western University Spartans, on Friday, September 6th at Exhibition Field, in Chilliwack, BC. The Cascades are coming off their most successful Canada West regular season finishing 5-5-4 for 19 points, one point short of earning a post season berth. As the Cascades prepare for their eighth regular season in the CIS, head coach Alan Errington looks to the largest returning group of student-athletes, in his nine years at the helm of the soccer team for leadership.

Led by Canada West second team All-Star, Mark Village, Abbotsford, BC who posted 4 wins, recorded 57 saves, 4 shutouts and 1.25 goals against average. The offense will have a new look with graduation of veteran forwards Craig Robinson and Sasa Plavsic, Coach Errington will look to Dalibor Plavsic, Coquitlam, BC, Justin Sekhon, Abbotsford, BC and James Najman, Coquitlam, BC to provide the scoring.

The Cascades are in good hands on defense led by veterans Colton O’Neill, Abbotsford, BC and Ravi Singh, Abbotsford, BC. “I am very pleased with the team so far in training, the veterans are looking sharp and the team is coming together as a unit,” commented Errington.

O’Neill, Sekhon and Singh have all won the school’s male rookie of the year award, giving Coach Errington a very talented nucleus to try to earn the program’s first conference post season spot.

The road to Fredericton, NB, the home of the 2013 CIS men’s soccer “Final 8” national championship tournament, begins in Kamloops and Kelowna this weekend as UFV will take on the two newest Canada West soccer programs, TRU and UBC-O. Both schools will start Canada West regular season play in 2014. UFV will then face five schools “south of the border” who play in the NAIA and NJCAA. The final two matches will be at home in Chilliwack, BC. All Cascade soccer exhibition games are free admission to the general public.

Men’s Soccer Exhibition Schedule

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August 17
UFV Cascades @ TRU Wolfpack (Kamloops, BC) 3:30pm

August 18
UFV Cascades @ UBC-O Heat (Kelowna, BC) 1pm

August 24
UFV Cascades @ The Evergreen State College Mariners (Olympia, WA) 1pm

August 25
UFV Cascades @ Willamette University Bearcats (Salem, Oregon) 1pm

August 26
UFV Cascades @ Concordia University Cavaliers (Portland, Oregon) 4:30pm

August 27
Western Washington University Vikings @ UFV Cascades (Townsend Park- Chilliwack, BC) 6pm

September 1
Peninsula College Pirates @ UFV Cascades (Townsend Park –Chilliwack, BC) 11:15am