NEWS RELEASES

VIU SOCCER - men’s team                                                                         Oct 3 & 4, 2009
comments by Bill Merriman

VIU lost 2 – 0 vs Douglas College on Sat in Coquitlam.

Saturday the team played very well against a physically strong Douglas College.  The Mariners once again came out very strong, but could not finish the chances they created.   Ben Leggett and Dan Cato played well holding Douglas goal scores off the sheet for the first half.  Unfortunately for the Mariners they were caught twice in the second half on two breakaways and the Douglas strikers made no mistake putting their opportunities away.  It was disappointing to drop the three points but it was nice to see the team work hard against a physically strong team. 

VIU won 1 – 0 vs Kwantlen College on Sun in Surrey.

Sunday was a much different game and Kwantlen a different type of team than Douglas College.  The Kwantlen team gave us a lot of space to play the ball but we didn’t take advantage of this.  The team kept running into a wall of players at the top of the 18 yard box.  Brant Losch and Danny Cato both played well while being injured.  The Mariners pressed hard to get the win and were rewarded late in the 1st half when Romain Martin was taken down in the box after a speedy run to give the defender no choice but to take him down and give us a PK.  Aki stepped up and made no mistake putting the ball in the back of the net.  Robbie Cochrane earned his 4th shut out of the year making two outstanding saves, one in the first half and one late in the 2nd half to preserve the win.  The players coming off the bench were a big help as we had to deal with tired and injured bodies.  I was happy to see us get a much needed win and do it as a complete team effort.

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VIU Women's Soccer
comments by Anup Kang

Saturday Oct 3 @ Douglas

Douglas College scored a goal in the 3rd minute of the game off a miscue by VIU defenders, Mariners looking to clinch a playoff spot with a win and keep their undefeated record intact peppered the Royals goal with shots but couldn't put one in, defender Heather Iverson dribbles around four players and with just the keeper to beat shot it right at the Douglas goalie. Emily Nicholson twice on a breakaway forced the Royals keeper to come up big, Kate Flynn, Jolene Nagy and Aileen Holder also had grade A chances. VIU keeper Hollis Roberts made couple of late saves as Mariners were pushing forward trying to get the equalizer

Final

Douglas - 1, VIU - 0

"First half was our worst soccer of the year but we picked it up in the second and really should have won the game with the amount of quality chances we had, it took us a while to adjust to playing on turf"

Sunday Oct 4 @ Kwantlen

VIU came out with a lot more focus and controlled the play for most of the first half, Jolene Nagy, Kate Flynn and Aileen Holder had clear chances to give Mariners the lead.

Half Time 0-0

Kwantlen scored in the 52nd minute on a great header off a corner kick to make 1-0, Kate Flynn replied for the Mariners in the 59th with a brilliant shot from 20 yards out, it was Flynn's first in four games and team leading fifth of the season, Eagles again took the lead against the run of play in the 79th minute,  Aileen Holder tied it 2-2 off a corner kick from Brianne McKenzie with less than five minutes to go, Caity Genereaux made a smart play by putting the ball back into the middle onto the boot of Holder, it was identical to her goal last week against Cap, a tie would qualify the Mariners into the playoffs with three games to go and are two points from clinching second place.

Final

VIU -2, Kwantlen -2

"Kwantlen is a physical team and they defend very well, we showed great character to tie it after going down one in the late stages, we've taken the first step to our goal by clinching a playoff spot and a win next Sunday will give us second in our pool, this league is so competitive from top to bottom and you have to bring your A game every single time, but we're in great shape and the gals are looking forward to playing in front of home fans after being away for a month"

Next home game Sunday Oct 11 vs Quest 1pm @ Mariner Field