Prized UBC quarterback recruit Garrett Rooker eyes the scene downfield during throwing drills at UBC's 2021 fall training camp at Thunderbird Stadium. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

UBC Football 2021: Postmarked ‘Texas’, Garrett Rooker emerges from ‘Birds deep talent pool to be named starting quarterback ahead of Saturday’s opener at Alberta!

VANCOUVER — Sometimes, stuff happens that makes you want to thank your lucky stars.For UBC Thunderbirds head football coach Blake Nill, one of those days was May 8 of 2020.“Some days are better than others,” wrote Nill that day on his official Twitter account in announcing that quarterback Garrett Rooker, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback out […]

After a full season of waiting, the fun starts again for Danielle Steer and the rest of UBC's blue-and-gold-clad women's soccer team. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

UBC women’s soccer 2021 home opener: When it comes to goals, ‘Birds national MVP striker Danielle Steer takes the wheel and points the way!

VANCOUVER — There was a moment, back in the spring of 2016, when Danielle Steer might have wondered about the direction of the UBC Thunderbirds’ women’s soccer program.A shining Grade 11 youth soccer talent with both Coastal F.C. and her school team at Elgin Park Secondary in Surrey, Steer was in the midst of taking […]

Simon Fraser senior captain Kayla Goncalves loves the spirit of her team and the way its younger players have accepted the challenge of the new GNAC season. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

Thursday’s GNAC 2021 opener: It’s a youthful re-start atop Burnaby Mountain for SFU women’s soccer, yet coach Hamel says “…We’re one decision, one moment away”

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Ask Annie Hamel what it’s been like pushing the re-start button on the B.C. women’s collegiate soccer program perhaps most limited since the pandemic’s arrival some 18 months ago, and the Simon Fraser head coach relates a moment early in the team’s preseason.“We wrote on the white board for the coaches ‘PATIENCE’,” […]

UBC freshman receiver Jason Soriano spent the lost 2020 season honing his skills as a full-time pass-catcher for the Birds. Now, the ex-Vancouver College star is part of three-man receiving core head coach Blake Nill has nicknamed The Smurfs. Soriano digs in on a route during a fall camp session last week. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

UBC Football 2021: Thunderbirds’ head coach Blake Nill dubs his diminutive, speedy receiver trio of Soriano, Phillips, Williams as ‘The Smurfs’ ahead of Saturday opener at Alberta!

VANCOUVER — As children of the 2000’s, you couldn’t blame a certain trio of UBC Thunderbirds’ receivers for being a little perplexed last week when head coach Blake Nill announced during a team gathering that he had discovered their perfect nickname.“I have these three guys who are all around 5-10 and they have burners,” explained […]

A near-capacity crowd jammed the stands as SFU Stadium at Terry Fox Field officially opened Saturday in Simon Fraser's 36-14 football loss to Central Washington. (Photo by Garrett James property of Simon Fraser athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University University Football

A SUNDAY READ: Lightning flashes from the football gods try to steal SFU’s thunder on stadium-opening night, valiant fight falls short against CWU Wildcats!

BURNABY — The Simon Fraser football team knew it was going to have to catch lightning in a bottle in order to upset the heavily-favoured Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday as SFU Stadium at Terry Fox Field had it official opening ceremonies.What it didn’t know was that in the midst of its best stretch of […]

Seeing the forest through the football trees of the UBC offensive line, freshman running back Dane Kapler celebrates a big-picture focus which has brought him to Vancouver to both carry the pigskin and major in forestry. Oh yeah, he's also keeping an eye on dad Gabe's San Francisco Giants. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

UBC’s Dane Kapler: How the ‘Birds freshman running back and son of San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler found the vision to blaze a football path to Vancouver!

VANCOUVER — Dane Kapler has always been able to see the forest for the trees.In an allegorical sense, there he was Tuesday, the UBC freshman running back and forestry major taking a hand-off at the team’s fall camp and bursting through a seam from behind the Thunderbirds’ thick-stumped offensive line.And, of course, in a twist […]

Toe-tapping at the back of the end zone, Simon Fraser pure freshman receiver Caelin Johnson scores one of his three touchdowns Saturday in a loss at Linfield (Ore.). (Photo by Naji Sakir property of LInfield Sports Communications 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Ballard’s boffo Beaver receiver! He’s not Calvin, but Simon Fraser’s pure freshman Caelin Johnson takes mega-impact potential into Saturday’s SFU Stadium christening!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Caelin Johnson may be the baby of the bunch within a burgeoning quintet of Simon Fraser receivers trying to catch a rising star these days atop Burnaby Mountain.Yet based on one of the most memorable pure freshman break-out performances in program history this past Saturday, albeit as part of the team’s 56-20 […]

After a redshirt transfer season in 2019 and the COVID-cancelled 2020 campaign, North Delta native Brittany Costa ends a near three-year drought from Canada West play this Friday when she captains the Fraser Valley Cascades at Rotary Stadium against the Victoria Vikes. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

How long is 1,055 days? As Friday’s UFV soccer opener approaches, Cascades’ Brittany Costa reflects on wisdom gained over her near three-year Canada West drought!

ABBOTSFORD — Inform Brittany Costa just how long it’s been since she last played a meaningful soccer game, and the silence on the other end of the phone line speaks volumes.In her case, the waiting has indeed the hardest part.“It just feels like I have been training for so long that I don’t even know […]

Admitting later to massive case of nerves, SFU's Kristie Elliott came up short on this 39-yard field goal try in the first half of Saturday's game at Oregon's Linfield Wildcats. (Photo by Naji Sakir property of Linfield athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

“I’m getting chills…” says Simon Fraser’s Kristie Elliott, after 21-year-old kicker becomes Canada’s first female to score in a university football game!

There is a homespun appeal to Kristie Elliott’s personality that is so endearing, that even on her biggest days, it comes out of her soul and speaks as if a wide-eyed kid at the candy store.Saturday was one of those days for the Simon Fraser football team’s place-kicker.So, how does it feel, she’s asked, to […]

Simon Fraser's fourth-year sophomore slinger Justin Seiber heated up late as a ray lof light at Linfield on Saturday for the winless SFU football team. (Photo property of Linfield athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

As Simon Fraser suffers bleak loss at Linfield, super-soph QB Justin Seiber comes out of mothballs to show he’s still got the shine

Hey Justin Seiber, welcome back.Simon Fraser football fans hearty enough to follow their heroes into the second half of Saturday’s disappointing 56-20 road loss in Oregon to the Div. 3 Linfield Wildcats were no doubt looking for something to hang their hats on.And so amidst the expected fault lines of youth which have clearly been […]