Over the Edge - October 10th 2012

PROPINION: NFL REFEREE STRIKE

GEOFF SARGENT
SPORTS EDITOR

h SOURGE SHE

GEOFF SARGENT

SPORTS EDITOR

As the end of the regular season draws
near, it is increasingly likely that neither
the men's nor the women's Timberwolves
soccer programs will go straight from
collegiate play to the playoffs in Canada
West in one season. Through the first four
weeks of the season, both teams were
winless; the women with two draws and
six losses, and then men losing each of
their eight games. While both soccer head
coaches acknowledge the struggles of the
youthful, inexperienced teams, the outlook
remains positive - in both the remainder
of this season, and in years to follow. “We
have improved our performances each
week and that is what it is about right
now for our program,’ said women's coach
Andy Cameron. “I believe we have a good
core of players that are young and they will
have a positive year’s experience under
their belts once the season is over. This
sets up the program to take another step
next year to close the gap and compete
with the best in the conference. Moving
into the CIS has been a huge challenge for
the women’s soccer team and | believe the

WOMEN'S

GEOFF SARGENT
SPORTS EDITOR
After the season began with a scoreless

draw against fellow CIS newcomers
Winnipeg in early September, the season
turned disastrous for the women's
soccer team — three consecutive losses,
conceding an almost-unbelievable 28
goals in the process. After only finding the
net once in all of 2011 in a winless, draw-
less season that saw the team flounder in
the CCAA, most were ready to write the
year off entirely for the Timberwolves,
yet the team immediately responded
with much stronger play. The following
weekend, UNBC hosted Saskatchewan
and opened the scoring, holding the
lead against the visitors for over half an
hour until the Huskies’ heavy pressure
finally paid off for three goals in the last
third of the game. The next day, Regina
visited the Timberwolves and once again
the game stayed competitive, with UNBC
holding fort until the Rams found the net

After three weeks of disorganization, missed
calls, and bad publicity, the first sports work
stoppage of the year was resolved as officials
returned from lockout to the NFL gridiron. The
breaking point undoubtedly came as the eyes
of the football world watched Green Bay play
Seattle in prime time two weeks ago; a clearly
blown call as time expired saw a win stolen
from the Packers and gifted to the Seahawks,
as a clear interception on a hail mary was
ruled a game-winning score for Seattle. As
the Seahawks were famously on the receiving
end of many questionable calls in their lone
Super Bowl appearance seven years ago — an
eventual loss to Pittsburgh — this may serve
as slight retribution for their fans, but for most
neutral fans this game only signified how
badly the locked-out officials needed to return.

EMBRACE

players have done a very good job keeping
things in perspective.”

Neither Cameron nor men’s coach Alan
Alderson, nor perhaps anyone at UNBC
Athletics will shy away from the reality
— the soccer programs at UNBC may
not have been intended to enter the CIS
program as quickly as they did. Soccer was
notably absent from the first application
to Canada West submitted by UNBC,
containing only basketball; when the first
application was rejected, an alteration
had to be made to restart the process,
and soccer was eventually listed next to
basketball on the successful application.
This season seemed to be about building a
foundation for future success, and familiar
themes emerge from the coaching staff
of both teams: fundamentals, battles,
counter-attacks. In the lexicon of sports,
these are usually just euphemisms for
heavy underdogs, peppered throughout
post-game interviews of perennially-
losing teams. With UNBC forced into the
role of underdog, the coaches have no
choice but to embrace it. “I have been

Within 48 hours of the debacle in Seattle
— “Goldengate” to some, named after the
Seahawks wide receiver involved with the
play, Golden Tate — the league came to terms
with the referees’ union, and the officials
were reinstated immediately. This led to
bizarre scenes around the league such as fans
high-fiving referees as they entered the field
the following week, television introduction
packages normally reserved only for players,
and at least one stadium-wide standing
ovation.

The NFL was completely ripped apart by
players, coaches, and media during the entire
lockout in a feeding frenzy, and justifiably so;
the situation boiled down to the league not
wanting to set precedent with their other
employees by offering a pension package the
union was desperately seeking. Meanwhile,

the hiring of ‘scab’ officials - men with no
future ambition of ever working with the NFL
Referees’ Union, but still supposedly qualified
to work in front of millions of fans — continued
to provide drama for sports tabloids, as stories
involving former employees or lifetime fans
being chosen to work at a clear conflict of
interest surfaced, or as officials previously hired
(and fired!) by the Lingerie Football League
took to NFL fields.

With the crisis evidently resolved, attention
switched back to football again. Yet in only
the second prime time game since Goldengate,
with a seasoned and experienced crew of
officials working, human error roared back to
life — an extremely close game was marred
by more questionable officiating, this time
without any excuses for the striped men on
the field. Horrible pass interference calls

UNDERDOG ROLE

extremely proud of the effort our team
has put forward this season. We have to
continue to focus on the process and build
foundation qualities this season,’ said
Alderson. “We have only two returning
starters from the college league and a slew
of first year players, focusing on wins and
losses instead of focusing on building the
habits necessary to compete at this level
would be extremely shortsighted. Don't
get me wrong, we would love to win some
games real soon, however | am very happy
with how hard the guys are working and
their commitment to learning to compete
at this level.”

One statistic clearly already at the CIS level
is UNBC's attendance at NCSSL fields for
home games. The soccer teams shared
home games on only one weekend all
season, and it fell on September 22nd
and 23rd; close to 300 fans were along the
near sideline by the time the men kicked
off against Trinity Western, in full heckling
voice against the rival school from the
south. “I am certainly happy with our
first year attendance and with the interest

and passion that some of our fans have
shown,’ said Alderson, potentially alluding
to the boisterous crew of fans from UNBC
residences lining the upper railing of the
NCSSL clubhouse overlooking the pitch.
“| am hoping for some very strong and
supportive crowds for our last two home
games, so that UNBC and Prince George
can show Canada that we are building
something special in Northern BC”
Alderson has further goals in mind for the
program, unsatisfied with the average or
the ordinary — home-field advantage was
a tactic greatly used by Trinity Western
during his time as coach, and it stays in his
game plan as he moves north. “I am glad
we are in the top half of attendance for
the league,’ he said (UNBC sits at 218 fans
per game, even with UFV, Saskatchewan
and TWU, trailing only defending national
champions UVic). “However, | am hoping
that over the next two seasons we will
have the highest attendance in the
country.”

SOCCER KILLED BY LATE GOALS

three times in the last half hour. A trend
was firmly established the following
weekend, as the Timberwolves travelled
to Calgary for a game against Mount
Royal University. UNBC raced out to a two
goal lead with goals from Sidney Roy and
Jessica Manning before seeing the lead
evaporate after the clock turned to the
second hour — two goals by the Cougars
in the 65th and 85th minute earned a tie
for MRU. At full time, three consecutive
games had seen the Timberwolves keep a
clean sheet through the first hour of the
game before floodgates opened late for
the eight goals the team conceded.

Regardless of final results, the games
showed promise for the team, as games
had changed from laughers to nail-biters
in less than a month. “Well, we have had
chances to steal some points in three
games but we still have room to grow,’
said Cameron. “We are reasonably well

organized in defence and we know what
we would like to do going forward but
we need to possess the ball for longer
periods of time and dictate more of the
play.’ Cameron is clearly aware that UNBC
still has work to do, as the team has been
anincredibly heavy shot disparity in every
game. “Yes, giving up late goals has been
a problem but this is the nature of the
sport. Good teams will wear you down
until you lose your team shape and then
they attack spaces that you have left
exposed,” he said. “The positive thing is
that we have been keeping our shape
for longer periods of time. We have been
forcing teams to work very hard to beat us
which is a credit to the players.”

The tide seemed to change Sunday - after
trailing 2-0 to Lethbridge at halftime in
Prince George, this time the late goals
were provided by the Timberwolves,
as Jordan Hall continued her excellent

season, scoring twice in the last 15
minutes of the game and earning UNBC
another point in the standings.

Last weekend saw the Timberwolves
wrap up their home schedule, with
only a trip south against Trinity Western
and UBC remaining before the season
ends. While the team can't make the
playoffs, Cameron is nonplussed; the
team has turned themselves from a
laughingstock to simply a developing
program headed for future success. “It has
been a wonderful start to our journey into
the CIS,” he said. “There has been strong
support at our games. There has been a
lot of talk in the soccer community and
the media has been very good to us. It is
about building on all these positives and
building an even stronger team for next
year.”

against both the offense and defense late
in a game between the Giants and Eagles
resulted in irrevocable damage to not only the
entertainment of the game itself, but in the
realization that the new officials are indeed just
as capable of ruining games on the big stage as
the vilified replacements who preceded them
this season.

Like any non-player, officials in sports are to
be not seen and not heard — they should exist
only as a barely noticeable background to the
greater event. By letting the lockout drag
into the regular season and depriving officials
of their usual tune-up exhibition contests,
the NFL failed to maintain integrity and
professionalism that every sports association
requires.

canadawest
standings

Men’s Soccer

Pacific Division

8-0-0 UBC

6-0-2 Trinity Western
4-3-2 UVic

1-2-4 Fraser Valley
0-10-0 UNBC
Prairie Division
6-1-2 Alberta

5-2-2 Saskatchewan
3-2-4 Lethbridge
3-4-2 Calgary

2-7-1 Mount Royal
0-7-3 Winnipeg

Women’s Soccer

8-1-0 Trinity Western
7-1-1 UVic

6-1-2 UBC

6-2-1 Fraser Valley
5-0-3 Alberta

5-3-0 Regina

4-4-0 Saskatchewan
2-3-3 Calgary

2-6-0 Manitoba
1-6-1 Lethbridge
0-5-3 Mount Royal
0-7-3 UNBC

0-7-1 Winnipeg