Jean Chrétien was in 24 Sussex Drive, Bill Clinton in the White House, Apollo 13 in movie theatres and Gangsta’s Paradise on the radio. The Island will end a 27-year drought when Gorge FC kicks off in the Toyota Canadian women’s soccer championship tournament today in Vaughan, Ont.
Gorge FC earned the right by beating Coastal FC of Delta in the sa国际传媒 championship game in April to become the first Island team to take the provincial crown and advance to nationals since 1995. Not that it’s been easy for any sa国际传媒 teams to get to nationals during the era in which Surrey United won 13 provincial championships between 2003 and 2018 and national titles in 2006 and 2011.
Head coach Dave Dew, also the head coach of the national silver-medallist 1995 Gorge FC squad, returned to senior women’s ranks this year and brought Gorge FC back to nationals nearly three decades later. Not that he has been away from the game in the intervening years. Dew and assistant coach Steve Simonson, also of Victoria, brought along the likes of Olympic Games multi-medallists Christine Sinclair, Sophie Schmidt, Erin McLeod and Desiree Scott as 16-and-17-year-olds with the Whitecaps W League team and the Canadian U-17 program of the 2000s.
Dew’s return this year to senior women’s was triumphant at the Island and provincial levels and Gorge FC will look to carry that forward to the national level when it opens today in Pool B against Newfoundland-champion Holy Cross FC of St. John’s. The Island club meets Manitoba-champion FC Northwest of Winnipeg on Thursday and Alberta-champion Edmonton Drillers SC on Saturday.
Pool A consists of Quebec-champion CS Trident Ancienne-Lorette, Nova Scotia-champion Halifax County United SC and Ontario-champion London Alliance FC Galaxy with the Pool A and Pool B winners meeting in the national championship game Sunday for the Jubilee Trophy.
The amateur soccer season in the rest of sa国际传媒 is spring to summer and concluded in August. sa国际传媒 is the only province that plays fall to spring, with the new season having already begun.
“We’ve already played Lower Island League games [with two wins and a draw] so we see that as an advantage to jump on teams quickly here at nationals and attack as much as possible,” said Dew.
Gorge FC is well equipped to do that with former UVic Vikes striker Kiera Kilbey, provincial tournament MVP last spring, already with five goals in league play. Joining Kilbey up front is former UVic star Liz Gregg (nee Hansen) and Lambrick Park Secondary graduate and former sa国际传媒 U-20 player Katie Kraeutner, who played NCAA Div. 1 for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers.
“We have jets up front and are very fast,” said Dew, of his potent forward corps.
It’s appears more than enough for Gorge FC to make up for the loss of former UVic Vikes star and sa国际传媒 U-20 player Jaclyn Sawicki, now playing pro soccer in Australia, and who will represent the Philippines in the FIFA 2023 World Cup.
“We feel we have outstanding depth,” said Dew, assistant coach for sa国际传媒 in the 1995 World Cup and national youth team coach in the early 2000s.
Representing sa国际传媒 in the concurrent Toyota Canadian men’s championship for the Challenge Trophy, also in Vaughan, Ont., is defending provincial-champion Surrey BB5 United.
This will be the first national championships held since 2019 after the pandemic forced cancellations of the 2020 and 2021 events.
