The University College of the Okanagan men's and women's soccer teams must have been happy to be on their way home on Sunday evening after receiving a weekend-long beatdown at the hands of the University College of the Fraser Valley Cascades, who opened their season by outscoring OUC by a total of 11-1.

In Saturday's games, the women opened up with a 3-1 victory with third-year player Christy Hunniford and rookies Amanda Romegioli and Crystal Hasenpflug tallying goals for the home side. OUC's lone goal was a strange one with the shot bouncing off the post and then off keeper Kim Bull's back and into the net.  

While happy with the win, head coach Tom Fast thought the game was a learning experience, telling his players that they had better get used to "pushing it, and digging a little deeper." As rookie fullback Jessica Hartl says, "We really had fire there for a bit but then we just slowed down."  

That fire was restarted on Sunday afternoon as UCFV followed up the first victory with a 2-0 shutout, with Pam Clarke and Hasenpflug both getting past the keeper. It was a wide-open game in the first half with chances for both teams but in the second half, the defense settled down and the offense found its groove with both goals coming in the second frame.  

Coach Fast found the results encouraging. "It's always good to win two games and I think we're really starting to play better," he says. With five goals for and only one against, and the coach saying they are "starting to play better," the Cascades have an optimistic outlook for the rest of the season.

 The UCFV men's soccer team also showed who was boss this past weekend.  

Reversing the fortunes of their preseason tournament where they found the net only once in four games, the team turned into a veritable offensive juggernaut outscoring OUC 6-0 over two games.  

In Saturday's action at Bateman Park in Abbotsford, they won 2-0 with goals by two rookies, Cody Mclure and Jon Craig. Mirroring their preseason experience against OUC, the Cascades badly outshot their opponents but somehow only managed to scrape two goals out for all of their efforts.

On Sunday, the floodgates broke open as OUC fell 4-0 to the locals. Scoring for UCFV were second-year forward Mike Short, Craig, and second-year midfielder Lee Grant, who tallied twice. Grant seemed to be especially focused on getting shots off and may have had a chance at the hat trick if co-head coaches Scott Fast and Ken Fernstrom had not decided to give him some well earned rest for the last 20 minutes of the game.  

After Short put the Cascades up 1-0 early in the first half, OUC seemed to respond with increased energy but the home squad staved off the attack and countered with another goal, this time by Grant. In the second half, the emotional and physical toll of being outplayed and outscored began to show on the faces and in the legs of the OUC players while the Cascades seemed to shine even brighter and use their speed to find the back of the net two more times.  

Up next for UCFV is Capilano, the team that tied with the Cascades atop the BCCAA standings. The action starts Saturday, Sept. 13 at Bateman Park with the men kicking off at 1 p.m. followed by the women at 3 p.m. On Sunday, Malaspina will try its luck against the Cascades with the men getting under way at noon and the women at 2 p.m. Come out and support your local athletes as they represent Abbotsford .