Early in the spring-summer soccer season, the region’s top teams look like they’ll be right in the thick of things.
The Mid-Isle FC men’s and women’s sides are both off to 1-0-1 starts in their respective Pacific Coast Soccer League tables.
The club is based in Ladysmith, but both the men’s and women’s teams will play more than half their home games at Nanaimo’s Merle Logan Field.
The women’s squad tied West Van FC 1-1 on Sunday at Merle Logan.
“It was a good battle,” said Craig Glennie, the team’s assistant coach. “I feel we were the better team. We had more scoring opportunities; unfortunately we just didn’t finish our chances when we had them.”
The women’s team has players as young as 16, up to over-age players in their mid-20s.
“We’ve had some players that have just arrived from university from out of town, so it’s a building process,” Glennie said. “You’re hoping to build and peak at the right time.”
Ceilidh Glennie has scored in both her team’s games, and some other key players include Krista Whittaker of UBC, Alli Bach of the University of Victoria and Mairi Horth of UBC-Okanagan, plus members of the VIU Mariners program.
“So we’ve got a very experienced squad along with our younger players. And our younger players, some of them have played at a high-enough level that they can actually fit in very well,” Craig Glennie said. “It’s going to be a very good team, very skilled and very well balanced.”
GAME ON … The next home games for Mid-Isle FC are June 1 at Merle Logan. The women face North Shore at 3 p.m and the men play West Van at 5:30 p.m.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com