University College of the Fraser Valley women’s soccer coach Tom Fast told his charges they were going to have some fun at their practice on Thursday night. That must have been music to the ears of the players, who had survived a month-long tryout camp and a series of cuts which have resulted in what Fast calls “ as good a squad as we’ve ever had here.”  

The arduous tryouts have been taking place every Monday to Thursday for the entire month of August and have left Fast liking what he sees on the field. Despite the fact that five rookies expect to see action this year, Fast also describes the team as “the oldest we’ve ever had. The fewest rookies we’ve had before was eight and we usually have around 10.” With an older team that is actually quite young, the returning veterans will be asked to lead by example, especially captains Daniell Hunniford, who is in her fourth year and Alaina Bleker, who is only in her second.  

Coming off a 5-3-4 regular season record last season which ended in heartbreaking fashion with a 3-2 loss in overtime to Langara College in the provincial semifinals, the Cascades are looking to get right back where they were, but with a different result. “We competed with the top teams and we’re right there with the elite,” says Fast. “With all the returning players, we figure we’ve got just as good a shot this year as last year.” Rookies include Karly Pennel, Amanda Remegioli, Jessica Hartl, Christina Minton, and Abbotsford Senior’s Crystal Hasenpflug, who Fast hopes is an impact player for them, describing her as “fast, strong and she flat out scores goals.”  

While the women’s coaches were whittling their numbers from 25 to 18, the Cascades men’s coaches had an even bigger challenge, beginning with 44 hopefuls in camp. After an ID camp at the end of May, coaches Scott Fast and Ken Fernstrom thought all these players had potential. After four weeks of tryout camp and a series of cuts, the numbers have been reduced to 23 players with the team planning on carrying 20 into the regular season. “People have worked really hard and everybody who’s out here can play college soccer but we can only handle about 20 people at a time.”  

With the departures of Gord Dickson and Sean Hayes from last year’s team that finished out of the playoffs with a 3-3-4 record, Fast is counting on rookies Matt Hunt, Cody McLure, Jason Minhas, and Jonathan Craig to fill some holes in the lineup. “We lost some size but we’re a faster team,” says fourth-year player Aaron Wilms. “I won’t say we’re better or worse but we’re different and we’ll have to rely on different strengths,” says Wilms, claiming that Hunt, the rookie, and second-year player Will Folstad “are probably the two fastest guys in the league.”  

The BCCAA is renowned as one of the toughest leagues in the country with no really weak teams and a few very strong ones. Coach Fast hopes on being grouped with the latter. “We have a team that can be quite competitive this year. Our goals are not very complicated. We want to make the playoffs and we want to win on Saturday [semifinals] and we want to win on Sunday [finals]. Usually the champion does very well at the Nationals.”  

Both the men and the women and their fans will get a glimpse of how they stack up as UCFV hosts its 16th annual preseason tournament. Both teams’ first games kick off 10:30 Saturday morning at Bateman Park in Abbotsford.