Holy Cross Crusaders senior Logan Mathers may have played on his school's senior varsity basketball team, but soccer is his blue-chip specialty and the Surrey United goalkeeper is on his way to a U Sports career starting this fall with Abbotsford's Fraser Valley Cascades. (Photo by Jeff Dadson property of Holy Cross athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Soccer

Logan Mathers: How the Fraser Valley Cascades’ big-ticket soccer recruit learned what it means to truly stand tall

ABBOTSFORD — Logan Mathers has always been the tallest kid in the park.And although the 6-foot-6 goalkeeper ultimately reached his lofty height without one of those sudden spurts of verticality, the latest recruit of the Fraser Valley Cascades soccer team has never forgotten about the day he experienced his greatest growth.“In the moment it hurt,” […]

Fraser Valley Cascades central defender Sahib Sidhu has come to represent the true essence of the student-athlete as both a rising star with men's soccer team and a top scholar at the Abbotsford school. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Soccer

He’s a Big’un! Yet these days, it’s not just size and physicality that makes UFV Cascades’ centre back Sahib Sidhu a force to be reckoned with

ABBOTSFORD — His nickname is Big’un, and it’s one that University of the Fraser Valley central defender Sahib Sidhu has worn every bit as naturally as the spacious No. 22 Cascades’ jersey he first pulled on in the fall of 2018.“When they come in as first-years, you look at them and you say ‘That’s a […]

Abbotsford Panthers' graduating seniors (left to right) Josiah Levale, Jalem Catlin and Marley Edwards were all members of the senior boys basketball team, yet the entire trio will play different sports at the U Sports level come 2020-21. (Photos by Howard Tsumura, photo collage by Gabriel Lynn property of Varsity Letters 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Football

Three for the show! Abby Panthers’ rare hoops trio of Jalem Catlin, Marley Edwards & Josiah Levale embark on U Sports careers in football, soccer, rugby!

ABBOTSFORD — Greg DeVries is some 30 years into a life of meaningful basketball games and practices, and as such, the head coach of the senior boys varsity at Abbotsford Secondary knows just how special and rare the make-up of his 2019-209 Panthers actually was by asking himself a simple question.

Rising fifth-year senior setter Zach Wikenheiser will transfer from Lethbridge College to Fraser Valley and close out his university career for a Cascades' team set to make its U Sports debut in 2020-21. (Photo property of Lethbridge College athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Volleyball University Men's Volleyball

UFV men’s volleyball: Recruiting in a time of pandemic, Cascades come together sight-unseen for debut 2020-21 Canada West season

ABBOTSFORD — Recruited in the time of COVID-19 by a coach he’s never met, and headed off to a university campus he’s yet to even set foot on?On the basis of those two factors alone, you could correctly assume that Zach Wikenheiser has a lot of things on his mind as he prepares for a […]

Fraser Valley women's basketball players (left to right) Natalie Rathler, Maddy Gobeil and Lauryn Walker each provided inspirational moments this week as part of the Cascades' week-long virtual climb of Mt. Everest. (Photos by Dan Kinvig property of UFV Athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved. Photo graphic special for Varsity Letters courtesy of Gabriel Lynn)
Feature University Women's Basketball

A Sunday Read: How UFV Cascades’ women’s basketball strengthened its bond on a virtual climb to the top of Mt. Everest!

ABBOTSFORD — Al Tuchscherer was watching the nightly news recently when a story came across the screen which immediately sparked his imagination.“They had a human interest story about this gentleman who I guess always wanted to climb Mt. Everest,” began the head coach of the Fraser Valley Cascades women’s basketball team. “And he decided to take […]

Fraser Valley's Deanna Tuchscherer has enjoyed a brilliant rookie debut in the Canada West. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

“…Hey, she just pulled a Dirk!” UFV’s fab frosh Tuchscherer making like a U Sports’ Nowitzki

(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]

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 […]

The 1999-2000 CCAA national men's basketball champs from UCFV. On ladder (left to right) Tycson Boult, Mike Lee. Back row (left to right) Pat Lee (head coach), Aaron Wells, Dan Young, Jamie Armstrong, Anthony Toth, Ryan Haviland, Jarami Reid, Brad Petersen, Pat McKay. Front row (left to right) Tom Antil (assistant coach), Mike McLaverty, Wayne Jones. (Photo property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
North Delta native Brittney Zacharuk has becoming a leading force in her fourth season with Abbotsford's Fraser Valley Cascades. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of UFV athletics)
Feature University Women's Soccer

UFV’s Brittney Zacharuk: Cascades’ captain combines nails and glue as catalyst for Canada West consistency

ABBOTSFORD — Toughness and togetherness are a pair of attributes celebrated within the culture of one of the youngest U Sports women’s soccer teams in the nation.

Fraser Valley Cascades' freshman midfielder Anthony Vega (left, 5), a New Westminster Secondary grad, is one of a gaggle of rookies populating the roster of the Abbotsford-based U Sports program this season. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters)
Feature University Men's Soccer

UFV men’s soccer 2018: Cascades undergo a true culture change as 15 pure freshmen form program’s new foundation

ABBOTSFORD — It takes a pretty honest architect to unroll the blueprint and wield the eraser when the plans for a newly-poured foundation have barely had the opportunity to settle.