By Nathan Hutton (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 1, 2014
The UFV women’s soccer team is in the middle of a historic season. This weekend’s contests against the TRU WolfPack and the UBC-O Heat showed once more that the team seems to be unable to do wrong this season. The back-to-back wins extended their winning streak to seven games and furthered their record to 7-1-0. They now sit atop the Canada West Pacific Division with 21 points, five more than second-place Trinity Western, who their only loss this year has been to.
The Friday night game against the visiting WolfPack from Kamloops started the winning weekend. The Cascades grabbed an early lead nine minutes in, when third-year Sunayna Sumra connected a pass right to first-year Monika Levarsky, who buried it for her fourth goal and eighth point of the season. The first-year sensation that Levarsky has become has propelled the women’s team to the top of the standings. Levarsky is not only part of the reason the Cascades have had so much success this season, but her name is also plastered across the soccer boards country-wide. Her fifth overall ranking in game-winning goals is only topped by her ranking in assists, which sits at fourth.
“We had a great start to the game … and the girls came out flying,” said coach Rob Giesbrecht to Cascades Media following the game, adding that the team has been plagued by slow starts this season.
“I think we still played well after the goal, but in the final third we were still lacking that bit of quality to finish off games. TRU is a good side. They’re an athletic team, they’re a veteran team, and they’re not easy to beat.”
The second game of the weekend played right into the Cascades’ hands as they were able to do some quick damage and get the win without exerting too much energy. The Cascades upended the Heat 3-0, scoring all their goals in the space of 10 minutes from the 49th minute to the 59th. The goals came from Kara Delwo, Alexis Cattermole — and of course, Monika Levarsky — who tallied her fifth of the season and took sole possession of the team lead that she previously shared with Shelby Beck.
The men’s soccer team was treated to a sight for sore eyes when they took the pitch on Friday night against the TRU WolfPack. It felt right when the Cascades could look behind and see fifth-year keeper Mark Village in his first game of the year after dealing with a concussion for most of the year. The Cascades were able to reward Village with a win in his first game back, taking the contest 3-0. But they weren’t as lucky when they faced the UBC-O Heat the next day, losing 1-0.
The Cascades have next weekend off before they travel to Point Grey to take on the UBC Thunderbirds.
