Vancouver Island University’s soccer teams weren’t able to come up with wins in their home openers, but there are fresh opportunities this coming weekend.
VIU’s men’s and women’s teams play the UBC-Okanagan Heat on Saturday (Sept. 22) and the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack on Sunday at Mariner Field.
The Mariners teams will be looking to make good after the previous weekend’s so-so results.
The men tied Kwantlen 0-0 in an uneven effort last Saturday, then played better in a 1-1 tie against the Douglas Royals the next day.
Stephen Ewashko gave the M’s a 1-0 lead over the Royals in the first half, but the second half saw the visitors tie it up and the home team go down a man to a red card.
Even down to 10 men, the M’s created a good scoring chance late in the game, said coach Bill Merriman.
“We still attacked, we still played as if we had the 11 men,” he said. “We didn’t drop off and get into a shell which is easy to do against a team like Douglas.”
He said both keepers played well in Sunday’s tie, but said his players need to do a better job of goal scoring against this weekend’s opponents.
“I know we’re going to be able to create chances, it’s a matter of putting the ball in the net,” he said.
The M’s women, meanwhile, had a tougher go of things last weekend, losing 4-0 to Kwantlen on Saturday and then getting edged 2-1 in Sunday’s game against Douglas.
Mariners women’s coach Anup Kang said his team didn’t seem to have its legs in Saturday’s game, but was much better the next day. Emma Johansson scored for VIU in that contest.
“If we continue to play like we did on Sunday we’ll be fine,” said Kang in a press release. “Our shape was good and we didn’t give them anything.”
GAME ON … The women face the Heat today at 1 p.m. with the men’s game at 3 p.m. Tomorrow’s games versus the WolfPack go at noon and 2 p.m.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com