She got the ball rolling! Trinity Western's 2004 national championship-winning captain Angela Trauter provides the roots of a Spartans' tree filled with talented midfielders. The youth of the 2020 group has much to glean from its past. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

Happy 20th birthday: At the heart of the park, a youthful Trinity Western women’s midfield has much to glean from its stellar past

LANGLEY — So what’s the commonality that best defines the Trinity Western Spartans’ voluminous streak of 16 straight appearances and counting in the Canada West women’s soccer Final Four championships?As in any kind of anatomical analysis, figurative as this one may be, the place to start is at the heart, or in the case of […]

There is still hope that players like Fraser Valley Cascades' rising second-year forward Katie Lampen (right) and the rest of the B.C.-based teams in the Canada West women's and men's soccer worlds will be able to play meaningful exhibitions later this fall, if the environment is deemed safe by provincial health, as well as university authorities. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football University Women's Soccer

Despite a cancelled fall season, B.C.’s Canada West schools keep alive hopes of meaningful inter-province competition!

The Canada West’s fall sports season may have been officially cancelled Monday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet some coaches and administrators from the conference’s B.C.-member schools seemed united in their hopeful belief that with a continued flattening of the curve throughout the summer months and all the appropriate green lights flashing, that its core […]

As Calgary Dinos' keeper Lauren Houghton (left) looks on, UBC's Natasha Klasios (right) congratulates teammate Danielle Steer on scoring what held to be the winning goal in Sunday's U Sports national women' soccer final staged at UVic's Centennial Stadium. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

UBC women’s soccer: In homage to program architect Dick Mosher, ‘Birds win a national title on weird but wondrous 80th-minute header

VICTORIA — The video replays proved inconclusive, but did the goal which lifted the UBC Thunderbirds to the top of Canadian university soccer world Sunday night in Victoria actually graze in off of Danielle Steer’s ponytail?“No,” the UBC Thunderbirds’ third-year forward and championship MVP explained in the aftermath of the biggest goal of her life. […]

Four years after helping UBC earn its 100th national title in its 100th birthday year, 'Birds defender Amelia Crawford leads her team back into the playoffs for the final time in her career. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

UBC women’s soccer: On the road and in the shadows, these 2019 Thunderbirds seem built for U Sports’ second season

VANCOUVER — The UBC Thunderbirds have won the second most U Sports titles this century and are one of those programs which annually finds itself in the conversation when the talk turns to who will hoist the Gladys Bean memorial trophy, emblematic of Canadian women’s university soccer supremacy.

Trinity Western's star senior trio of (left to right) Rachel Hutchinson, Brooklyn Tidder and Jenaya Robertson have exerted their influence on every part of Chase Office Field. This weekend, the three play their final regular-season games at their cozy Langley fortress. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

TWU’s Jenaya, Rachel & Brooklyn: Three for the show… it will be tough for Spartans’ fans to see this dynamic soccer trio go!

LANGLEY — Jenaya Robertson reaches back in her mind to a time 10 years ago, and with an inflection so very apropos, the 22-year-old lets loose with a 12-year-old’s joyful enthusiasm.“We all played together on the same team for one season, and I am pretty sure we were all centre-midfielders, too,” remembers Robertson of the […]

Fraser Valley Cascades' rookie Bryana Buttar (centre) has played like a veteran over the first six matches of the 2019 Canada West season. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Soccer University Women's Soccer

Cascades are better with Bryana Buttar in the batter! Rookie a rare ingredient as UFV hunkers for huge weekend homestand vs. UBC, UVic

ABBOTSFORD — With the same clockwork precision she has shown at every key stage of her soccer career, Bryana Buttar has once again arrived ahead of her time.“I definitely feel that my whole youth career has set me up for this,” the Fraser Valley Cascades’ dynamic midfielder remarked Wednesday of the opportunity she has seized […]

Trinity Western's fourth-year defender Kristen Sakaki (left) had her love affair with the beautiful game reaffirmed during the Spartans' 12-day training camp in England last month. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

TWU women’s soccer: On eve of 2019 season opener, training camp in England reminds Spartans of their “love and joy” for the beautiful game

LANGLEY — It wasn’t a trip planned specifically as a soccer pilgrimage.Training camps are serious business, and when you’ve played in five of the last seven U Sports national title games like the women’s team from Langley’s Trinity Western University have, it’s pretty clear that no part of the process can be ignored.Yet allowing that […]

Surrey-Kwantlen Park grad Taylor Nekic, entering her third season as a starting central defender, has helped lift the fortunes of Abbotsford's ever-improving Fraser Valley Cascades. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Soccer

First signs of a second wind? UFV’s gifted youthful core embraces opportunity as Cascades women’s soccer takes a hopeful forward step

ABBOTSFORD — You can’t really define a second wind, except to say that although invisible to the naked eye, it brings a presence which is undeniably uplifting.In a big-picture sense, that’s kind of how Rob Giesbrecht has felt throughout the course of the most demanding and perhaps most rewarding preseason in the history of Fraser […]

Centennial Centaurs' Kiara Buono (jumping for joy) and Langley Fundamental's Jacob Sol (shouting) each won B.C. high school soccer titles over their senior seasons. Buono is off to Simon Fraser in the fall while So heads to UBC Okanagan. (Photos by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2019. All rights reserved)
Feature University Men's Soccer University Women's Soccer

Varsity Letters B.C. Recruits List 2019: Where 237 soccer prospects are headed this coming season

LANGLEY — Day 3 of Varsity Letters’ 2019 B.C. Recruits List Week brings us to the beautiful game! Nowhere else does B.C.’s vast youth delivery system produce the number of NCAA student-athletes in addition to the scores of U Sports and CCAA products as in soccer.

Having already represented Canada at two FIFA U-17 World Cups, North Vancouver's Caitlin Shaw embarks on an NCAA Div. 1 career at Oregon beginning this coming season. (Photo by Bob Frid property of Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2019. All Rights Reserv
Feature High School Girls Soccer University Women's Soccer

A Sunday Read: Caitlin Shaw takes her soccer skills to Oregon Ducks as part of Whitecaps’ multi-million dollar NCAA signing class

BURNABY — Engage Caitlin Shaw in a discussion of her soccer future, and within seconds, what’s most clear is that she has greeted each day of her journey with humility and an unfailing sense of self-belief.