KAMLOOPS, BC - An early start to the Canada West season has the UBC Okanagan men's soccer team testing out their squad in inter-university competition earlier then usual as the Heat played a pair of exhibition matches this past weekend at an exhibition tournament hosted at Hillside stadium in Kamloops by the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
On Saturday the Heat played Quest University to a (1-1) draw and on Sunday the Heat played the MacEwan Griffins to a scoreless draw.
Quest opened up the scoring on Saturday sliding one past starting Heat keeper Mitch McCaw (Calgary, AB) in the 14th minute, the Kermodes held that lead until Corbin Beauchemin (Kelowna, BC) notched the equalizer in the 60th minute.
Head coach Dante Zanatta thought that it was a good effort from the team and a good run for the full 90 minutes. The majority of starters were first year players and Zanatta was pleased with his team's pace but he did think his squad could have used more thought on the field. Overall Zanatta said "It was a good run for the first time out."
In the Sunday draw versus MacEwan the Heat's defense and possession was solid, UBCO limited the Griffins to just a couple of shots on goal. On offense the Heat produced chances but were unable to finish. The Okanagan squad missed both a penalty kick and a breakaway. Zanatta pointed out that his squad still needs to get better on the finer points, once again the Heat gave a lot of run to the newer members to the team.
The keeper battle in camp is shaping up to be a good one, all three net-minders in camp played 60 minutes over the weekend and all three showed well. The starter from the last two seasons, Tait Cuthill (Delta, BC) started the Sunday match, rookie keeper from Aberdeen Hall in Kelowna, Nicholas Reitsma, played the last 30 minutes both days. Mitch McCaw the starter in Saturday's game played three years at Concordia University in Portland.
Once again coach Zanatta was pleased with the 90 minutes played and both matches were a good start to the season and a nice warmup for this weeks preseason matches versus UNBC and Saskatchewan.
Thompson rivers and Douglas College were the other teams at the tournament in Kamloops.
The upcoming week will be busy on the pitch for the Heat with four exhibition matches scheduled, all of them at home on the Nonis Sports Field.
On Tuesday evening (5 p.m.) the Heat will host fellow Canada West squad, the UNBC Timberwolves. They will play again on Wednesday, the matinee match will kick off at 12:30 p.m.
On the weekend the Heat will host Saskatchewan on Saturday at 3:30 p.m and then play a Kelowna men's squad on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
The season will begin in earnest the following weekend for UBC Okanagan as Canada West conference action will begin on Saturday, August 27. To open the season the Heat will host the UVic Vikes, on Sunday (Aug 28) the UBC Thunderbirds will visit Kelowna for a conference match. Both matches get underway at 3 p.m.