Once again, a program will be essential to find out who’s playing this season for UNBC Timberwolves men’s soccer team.
This year’s roster has 11 new faces wearing the green and gold.
Last year UNBC set the bar for playing time eaten up by first-year players and in a 15-game Canada West Conference season it added up to nearly 7,000 game-time minutes.
By comparison, the Trinity Western Spartans, who finished in the top four and made the playoffs, racked up a grand total of 65 rookie minutes.
As young as they were, the injury-depleted T-wolves won three of their last four games down the stretch and were in the playoff hunt until the final week when they came up one win short and finished fifth.
The new season started Friday night in Abbotsford with a 4-1 loss to the Fraser Valley Cascades and the UNBC lost 2-1 in the rematch with the Cascades Sunday afternoon. The T-wolves' lack of university experience was a factor in their 0-2 start. Twenty-one of the 27-player roster is either first- or second-year players.
Heading into his 10th season at the helm, T-wolves head coach Steve Simonson knows his team will be hard-pressed to equal or better the 2023 edition that was almost good enough for a repeat postseason appearance.
They’re going to have to do without the services of striker Michael Henman, who scored 47 goals and collected 68 points in 63 games and finished his university career as a top-10 all-time Canada West scoring leader.
All-star goalie Daniel Zadravec graduated and is playing pro soccer in his native Victoria. Also gone is Gregor Smith, who leaves a hole on the wing and steady defender Julian Daduica.
“You never replace them,” said Simonson.
“It’s just a new-look group. We have a bunch of kids who played last year and got some experience and we’ve got some good young ones coming in. In terms of goals we’ll have to recreate them from a collection of players, not just one player (Henman scored five in 13 games last year and scored an astounding 19 times in 2022).”
Speedy and athletic Korean midfielder Hagon Kim is back after having academic issues that forced him to miss following up on his impressive rookie season and has the versatility to play anywhere on the field. The T-wolves will look for leadership from defender Pip van de Ende, a Dutch import who spent two years at Peninsula College in Washington state.
Victoria product Isaac Tate was a standout rookie as a left-footed wing. He the jump to university soccer last year from Reynolds Secondary and should be even more effective after another summer playing club ball with the Vancouver Island Wave.
Other returnees to watch are lanky centre back Koss Nystedt and attacking midfielder Jordan James.
Local content figures prominently in the UNBC camp with 10 of the 27 players products of Prince George youth soccer. Fourth-year midfielder Connor Lewis will likely slot in at forward this year, Midfielder Trevor Scott showed in the preseason he’s ready for a role in the starting 11 having played in Kamloops this summer in League 1 BC for Rivers FC.
Another Prince George product to likely to earn a key role in the starting lineup is six-foot-five defender Demian Dron, who suffered an ACL tear early last season that kept him sidelined the rest of the year. Colin Stauffer is another one to watch at midfield, playing in front of his home crowds at Masich Place Stadium.
Rookie Logan Pierce appears to have the inside track in goal but Yanni Ntapas will push him for playing time and the two PG boys will be fighting for the starting job.
Midfielders Xavier Rocha, Sascha Vieci and Kaiden Young, and defenders Matthew Bothelo and Marko Furlan are the other locals on the team.
“I’m really excited about the future of this group,” said Simonson. “We saw in preseason that we were really talented and played really well against Mount Royal but then we got beat over the head a little bit by Alberta and lost the physical and maturity battle against them.
“There will be some growing pains. In the long term I’m excited about this group, it’s just how quickly we can put it together.”
The T-wolves also play Fraser Valley Sunday afternoon. They open their home schedule next weekend with a two-game set against Victoria.
The UNBC women get their season started Sept 6. on the road in Calgary against Mount Royal and Sept 8 in Victoria and will be on home turf at Masich Friday, Sept. 13 to face Thompson Rivers.
