NANAIMO — Despite mixed results on the pitch, year three of the city’s League1 soccer franchise is being viewed as a success for showcasing local talent.
Both Nanaimo United men’s and women’s squads travel to play Unity FC in Surrey on Saturday, July 26, wrapping seasons where the both teams finished in the bottom half of their respective standings.
Women’s head coach Bobbie Taylor said the way the team played changed and evolved a lot over the course of the season, leading to positive results through late June and July, while showcasing local talent.
“Player development is the primary focus, but we also want to have a higher retention rate of players that come into our team, into the NUFC program. Players that are returning from universities to their hometown or nearby…we’ve had players from Comox, Courtenay, Victoria, and players that have committed to living here that aren’t actually from Nanaimo.”
The squad has a 4-8-3 record heading into Saturday’s finale, with one of those wins coming against playoff-bound Unity, in Nanaimo, earlier this season.
Late player arrivals handicapped the squad in the opening weeks, as did playing short or with several inexperienced players for this level of soccer.
Regardless, the team has made major strides, according to Taylor, who is keen to see the group grow together as best as possible.
“It’s really tough to judge, in fairness to players and what their commitments are next year. Whether it be school or work…this is a very young team that shows a lot of promise and has that potential to be a very, very strong team in two, three or four years.”
It’s a similar story for the men’s squad, who will finish 9th in the nine-team division with a record of 1-11-3 heading into the final weekend.
The loss of some key players all over the pitch, including last year’s leading scorer Vasilis Bagiopoulos, meant a major rethink.
“It’s a very, very young team with a sprinkling of experience here and there,” Daragh Fitzgerald, team technical lead, said. “Wins were hard to come by, but they had a very consistent season in terms of the starting games very, very well, even taking the lead in some games.”
He added too often, the team would allow quick goals to be scored back to back which turned the tide in several games.
Still, the focus remains on using and developing as much local talent as possible and creating a pathway for those players to pursue soccer at higher levels, including the Canadian Premier League.
“We’ve seen…the program has become more and more local based, players from Nanaimo and Vancouver Island. That’s probably what it’s going to be moving forward, over the next five, six, seven years, I think our focus is going to be very much on developing local talent.”
Headlining the list of local players at the next level is Jasmine Wilkinson, who signed with Ottawa in the new Northern Super League, a nationwide professional women’s soccer league.
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