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VIU SOCCER
comments by Bill Merriman, Head VIU Men's Soccer Coach

Sunday Final BC Playoffs                                                                                Oct 25, 2009VIU - 0 vs Douglas College - 2

The VIU Mariners played a great game in the finals of the BCCAA Soccer Provincial Championships; they played Douglas College but ended up on the short end of a 2-0 loss. The game was played in a rain storm, but it did not change the work effort that was put into the game by both teams. Jared Stephens continued to make great runs into the box and Romain Martin made some good runs down the outside giving the defenders problems. Akihiro Ishimine knocked a lot of free kicks into the Douglas penalty box but the Mariners were not able to finish one of their chances.  The game was a classic championship game with chances at both ends and hard but fair tackles going both ways. The teams finished the first half 0-0 and the Mariners knew they were in a game that could go either way, both teams were pushing to score and not holding anything back.

The teams came out in the 2nd half and continued to please the spectators with some real good soccer, it was good to see the crowd into the game on such a wet and windy night, hard to say if VIU or Douglas had the most support, the fans were just glad to see a great final. The 2nd half was back and forth with chances at both ends of the field but Douglas was able to get one behind Robbie Cochrane after a loose ball scramble in the Mariners 18 yrd box. Mariners were not affected and continued to push for a tying goal but they were caught on a nice one two play by Douglas College that made the score 2-0. The mariners still would not throw in the towel and created chances right up to the last minute of the game but just couldn’t get a goal.  The work of the VIU team was apparent when the awards were given out to the Douglas goal keeper and defender,  and a big part of that was because of the pressure VIU applied to Douglas in the final.

Davis Stupich and Matt Rigden did a good job of shutting down a couple of the League’s top strikers, one of which was Reynold Stewart , who was voted and justfully so received the BCCAA player of the year and MVP of the tournament.  Dan Cato (a tournament all star) who was outstanding all season long played well with Brant Losch and Dean Thorsell holding things together in the back. Chris Arnett (a tournament all star) did a great job with Stephen Hill, Yoshihito Watanabe and Akihiro Ishimine (tournament all star) in the midfield. Jared Stephens lead the Mariners team throughout the tournament as he did all season long.

Davis Stupich was voted player of the game.

BC Semi-final in Coquitlam -  men’s Soccer                              Saturday Oct 24, 2009
VIU Mariners wins  4 – 3 against Langara

The VIU Mariners men finished their soccer season off with a silver medal at the Provincial Championships in Vancouver. The men’s team played Langara Saturday night in the semi-finals, a game that turned out to be a nail biter with lots of goals and 30 minutes of over time.  Langara scored early off a free kick just out side the 18 yrd line and Robbie Cochrane made a great effort to save it, but a Langara player was there to put in the rebound.

Davis Stupich equalized for VIU shortly after scoring a great goal coming across the front of the net pulling the keeper out of position and made no mistake on his shot.  Langara scored a 2nd goal with 10 seconds left in the first half, unlucky goal for VIU, two defenders got a bit mixed up on the clearance and a Langara player came in between them and managed to beat Robbie Cochrane high. The VIU team went into the 2nd half a goal down, but knew they could work their way back into the game and they had their share of the play.  It was a matter of time before they could equalize once again. Davis Stupich came through when he jumped on a rebound from Akihiro Ishimine’s shot that the keeper could not hold onto. The teams ended up tied 2-2 at the end of regulation time forcing two15 min overtime half’s. The first over time ended up still tied but things went crazy in the 2nd 15min.  Yoshihito Watanabe who was a substitution at 45 min mark of the game did what he has done so well, scored another clutch goal for the VIU team putting them up by one. Things looked good but VIU gave up another free kick just outside the 18 yrd box and again Langara scored off a header to tie the game and it looked like PK’s were going to settle this game. Akihiro Ishimine shot with 6 minutes left looked like it had sealed it for Mariners but it was ruled that the ball did not cross the line, so they continued to battle and finally Jared Stephens, the one player that has played so well for the Mariners all year long scored the winner with 4 min to go. Robbie Cochrane still came up with a great save in the last min to make sure VIU Mariners would be playing in the final.

The game was a good game with Langara working hard to make sure the Mariners did not get an easy trip to the final.  Jared Stephens played well and scored the winner, Davis Stupich with two goals, contributed greatly and Chris Arnett worked hard in the midfield Akihiro Ishimine was selected player of the game.

VIU SOCCER
comments by Anup Kang, Head VIU Women's Soccer Coach

Women's Soccer Provincial Quarter Final
Friday Oct. 23 @ Coquitlam

VIU vs Kwantlen
VIU Mariner's women ranked # 4 in Canada and making the Provincial Championships for the first time in more than a decade faced a defensive minded Kwantlen Eagles in a Quarter Final game in Coquitlam Town Center Sports Complex.

Mariner's squad once again gave up the first goal of the game in the 30th, Heather Iverson had a great chance in the 32nd minute to tie it when she first timed a Emily Nicholson cross from 10 yards out but shot it right at the Eagles keeper.

Half Time 1-0 Kwantlen

VIU at start of 2nd half finally got it's legs and took control of the game, in the 55th minute a Kwantlen scored off a free kick to make it two 2-0 against the run of play, Mariner Women have come back all year from being down turned up the tempo and Eagles were on their heels when Nicholson danced around three players and placed one into the top corner to make it 2-1 in the 70th, Mariner captain Aileen Holder from 25 yards just missed the net with rocket that had the Kwantlen keeper beaten, the VIU gals applied tremendous pressure and had numerous chances before a long Kate Flynn throw in was flicked on by Holder to the foot of Andrea Strebel who put it into the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2 in the 80th minute, 30 minutes of overtime didn't resolve anything so the teams went to penalty shots to decide the winner, Mariners scored on the first two shots and the Eagles missed two but VIU missed the next three attempts and Kwantlen made good their next three to claim the upset victory and move into the semi final to face Thompson Rivers University who are ranked 8th in the country.

Kwantlen would also beat TRU in semi's and Langara in finals again in penalty shots to claim the BC title and berth at the Nationals in Toronto.

"They are a hard working team and were rewarded with a bit of luck, they play kick and run soccer and sometimes it works and that's what happened this time, give them all the credit as they beat #2, #4 and #8 ranked teams in the country to win the championship and I wish them all the best as BC rep at Nationals, we had the team to not only win BC's but Nationals but as I've said before you need luck and we didn't get it, I'm proud of this team, we are going miss to graduating players Aileen and Ange Losch and they are going to be tough to replace, with a veteran group returning we are going to be once again be one of the top teams"