Victoria Highlanders central-defender Callum Montgomery is talented enough on the pitch that medical school will have to wait until his dreams of Major League Soccer are realized or dashed.
Those dreams almost ended prematurely following a frightening injury last year. The 2017 Highlanders season remains just a blur for Montgomery, with the two titanium plates in the upper cheek being the souvenirs of a kick to the head.
鈥淚 don't remember much,鈥� he said, of the incident, which resulted in a tripod fracture that ended his season after just the fourth game.
But resiliency is built in when you are young.
鈥淚 still stick my head back in,鈥� said the six-foot-two standout.
The Nanaimo product, who graduated from SMUS, showed that during this NCAA Division 1 collegiate season as Montgomery was named first team all-conference with North Carolina-Charlotte.
鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 beep going through airports,鈥� he quipped.
This afternoon, Montgomery leads the Highlanders into their home opener against Portland Timbers Under-23 at 2 p.m. at Centennial Stadium.
Montgomery captained the Highlanders in their second game of the season, a 2-0 loss to the Foothills in Calgary last Sunday. Former University of Victoria Vikes star attacker Cam Hundal captained the Highlanders in their season opening 1-0 loss to the Foothills earlier last weekend. Hundal then had to fly out of Calgary the next day to lead the Surrey BCT Tigers-Rovers to the sa国际传媒 senior title in the Province Cup championship game, proving that life can get hectic in the prime of a soccer career.
Hundal returns today, leaving Highlanders head coach Thomas Niendorf two compelling options for the captainship. Either are excellent choices.
鈥淲e have some good players and are still coming together as a team,鈥� said Hundal, who is also assistant coach of the UVic Vikes.
鈥淭he attitude has been great. We are jelling well together and it will come for us. We had some grade A chances against Calgary but just couldn鈥檛 put them away.鈥�
Montgomery concurred.
鈥淭he effort was there. It was just the little things. And those are coming together over the week of training. When they do, we will be able to impose our style on the opposition.鈥�
Marcus Campanile also represents the kind of talent first-year coach Niendorf has assembled on the revamped Highlanders roster, which is a serious step above the past couple of years. Campanile, a former under-20 player for Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen, led the Cape Breton Capers to the U Sports national university soccer championship last fall.
鈥淲e missed some chances during that first weekend in Calgary and we had a good week of training and have regrouped well,鈥� said Campanile.
The native of Edinburgh has now seen both ends of sa国际传媒, from Cape Breton to Vancouver Island, in his soccer adventure.
鈥淚t was some unbeaten season we had at Cape Breton, with 17 wins and only one draw, so our U聽Sports national championships was well deserved,鈥� he said.
鈥淸But] I prefer this end of the country, to be honest,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very beautiful and everyone is so chill.鈥�
But on the soccer pitches, the chill factor ends.
鈥淲e [Highlanders] are all about passing and movement, and you're going to see that as this team starts to jell,鈥� said Campanile.
He sees the Highlanders as a jumping-off point, personally, as well. 鈥淚 want to stay in North America and play pro. My goal is to play in the MLS, or now, the CPL [new Canadian Premier League next year] as an option, too,鈥� said Campanile.
It was perhaps a bad scheduling break for the Highlanders to start off against the PDL Northwest Division-favoured Foothills, the 2016 divisional champions and 2017 finalists, whose roster includes former Bundesliga pro and 50-time sa国际传媒 capped Nik Ledgerwood.
鈥淚t was not for lack of opportunity and effort that we failed to get a point in Calgary,鈥� said Niendorf, whose connections to Calgary and Germany were instrumental in getting Calgary-born, former English international Owen Hargreaves signed with Bayern Munich.
The finishing will come.
鈥淲e need to continue to create opportunities and chances 鈥� and keep plugging away and trusting in our play,鈥� said Niendorf.
Not that it gets any easier against the defending Northwest Division-champion Timbers U-23, who feature a pair of NCAA Pac-12 Oregon State Beavers in Joel Walker and Don Tchilao and University of Portland star Rey Ortiz.
Timbers-U23 have produced several MLS draft picks since 2008.
They, however, are coming off a 7-3 loss to professional United Soccer League club Reno 1868 in the second round of the 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition and a 3-1 loss to TSS Rovers in their PDL opener played in Surrey.
