When the schedule was released for sa国际传媒 West men's soccer this year, University of Victoria Vikes' head coach Bruce Wilson was infuriated as conference rivals UBC Thunderbirds and the Trinity Western Spartans will not be visiting Centennial Stadium.
"When I saw the schedule, I thought it was a mistake,'' said Wilson. "How can you draw up and agree to a schedule like that?''
There are five teams in the Pacific Division - UVic, UBC, Trinity Western, Fraser Valley and the University of Northern sa国际传媒 Timberwolves from Prince George - and only the top three make the playoffs.
The Vikes will have to be road warriors this year with a total of five games (UBC twice, Trinity Western twice and Fraser Valley one) away from Centennial Stadium.
"Those are the teams we have to beat to make the playoffs and it will be difficult for us just because of the schedule.''
UVic opens the season tonight at Centennial against UNBC. Game time is 7: 15 p.m.
The same teams meet again on Saturday at 7: 15 p.m. UNBC and the Vikes played an exhibition game in August with UVic coming away with a 4-3 victory.
The Vikes won the Canadian Interuniversity Sport Championship last year at home and Wilson returns 17 players from that squad, including last year's rookie duo of Cam Hundal and Craig Gorman. Hundal was last year's sa国际传媒 West rookie of the year and also the MVP at the CIS tournament. Gorman was third in sa国际传媒 West points and he was named a first team allstar.
"Hundal and Gorman have been very sharp for us so far,'' said Wilson. "They are starting to play like they did last year.
"We are pretty solid in all the positions and some of the other key players for us are David Adams, Wes Barrett, Gavin Barrett, Bobby Eng and Elliot Mitrou.''
Fourth-year netminder Mitrou had an .897 save percentage last year along with a sa国际传媒 West-leading 0.67 goals-against average.
Some of the others expected to make contributions are Sam Prette (Claremont grad), Cam Stokes (from Langara) and Adam Plantinga (red-shirted last year after playing with Trinity Western).
"Without a doubt, UBC and Alberta are the top two teams in sa国际传媒 West. Fraser Valley and Trinity Western could also be right up there this year.''
