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Sorc,

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

he New Year has begun and the

second semester is already in

full gear which means that the
world of Douglas College sports gets
back into full action this week with
the men’s and women’s basketball
teams squaring off on Friday night in
a heated battle against the Langara
College Falcons at your very own
Douglas College.

The Friday night showdown starts
off with the women’s team tipping
off at 6 pm followed by the men’s
matchup at 8 pm. The ninth placed
Royals women’s team will hopefully
start off the New Year with a much
needed strong performance against
the fifth placed Falcons. They are
currently second last in the standings
and have yet to win a game this season
holding a 0-7 record which is good for
exactly zero points. Meanwhile, the
Falcons have eight points and a record
of 4-3 in seven games.

Now, the men’s team on the other
hand is right behind the Langara
Falcons in the standings. They are
in seventh spot with a 2-5 record in
seven games and four points while the
Falcons currently sport a 3-4 record
and six points, sitting in the sixth seed.
This particular match-up will be a
close-up battle between two underdog
teams and a game that would be a
great one to bring friends to and check
out, especially before a night filled
with more entertainment.

Royals Volleyball begins this
week as well with the men’s and
women’s teams battling it out in

16

Douglas College sports kick back into action

Cranbrook with back-to-back games
against the COTR Avalanche on

both Friday and Saturday night. The
match-up shouldn’t be too difficult
for the men’s Royals team. They are
doing quite well this year, sitting on
top in the standings at second place,
only behind the UBC Okanagan. Heat
who have a 7-1 record and 14 points.
The Royals have an almost perfect
record of 5-1 in six games with 10
points and have two games in hand on
the Okanagan Heat while the COTR
Avalanche are in seventh spot with

a 2-6 record in eight games and four
points.

Their games won/games loss ratio
is 9:20 while the Royals hold a 16:4
winning ratio. However, the world of
sports is a strange place, just because
the Avalanche aren’t looking too hot
in the standings at the moment doesn’t
mean they can’t easily snap out of
their funk and start winning games.
You never know.

The CBC Bearcats and the
Vancouver Island University Mariners
are third and fourth in the standings
respectively with ten points apiece
but because they have two more
losses than the Royals they fill out the
passenger seats in the standings. The
women’s Royals team is tied for last
place in the league with the COTR
Avalanche for zero points. They have
a 0-6 record and a 2:16 win-losing
ratio while the Avalanche is 0-8 and
4:24. The battle of the two worst
teams in the league. A great match-up
that could either be highly entertaining
or a total bust. Happy New Year!

 

Good-bye Kara Lang

By Matthew Visser

ednesday, January
5, 2011: a sad day in
Canadian soccer where

Kara Lang retried form the sport.
If you are a soccer nut like myself
or just enjoy watching and reading
about all sports, than you might of
heard of her. The name Kara Lang
has stood out in Canadian and
Vancouver Whitecap soccer since
she was 15. Kara has retired due to
suffering from every athlete’s worst
fears: injuring her anterior cruciate
ligament, or her ACL for short.

Lang was born in Calgary,
Alberta but shortly moved to
Oakville, Ontario where she now
lives and calls her hometown. She
has retired at the very young age of
24. 1 remember when I was a little
tyke and my Paps took me to see
a double header of both the men’s
and woman’s Vancouver Whitecaps
soccer games. I loved going to these
games to watch the players play so
much that I wanted to be exactly like
them when I was older. And who
was on the field when the woman’s
game started after the men’s game?
That’s right, Kara Lang.

I will always remember those
times with my dad, watching my
home town team kick the snot out
of other squads, (or hoping they
would). But, as we all know with
professional sports, sometimes it all
boils down to wishful thinking from
the fans and just not being the better
team on the field for the players on
the pitch.

Lang began her soccer career
at UCLA, where she was ranked
number one in recruitment and
chose to study there for a future
career in broadcast journalism. As
her soccer career began to take form
and she was making a name for
herself on the field, so was North
America watching her off the field.
During her four years at UCLA from
2005-2008 she started in 63 out
of 65 games, scoring 39 goals and
assisting on 18 others.

During her time playing in
the W-League with the Vancouver
Whitecaps when she signed with
them in 2003 at the age of 16, where
she played until she went to UCLA,
she scored nine goals in 19 career

games from 2003-2005. Not too
bad for one of Canada’s biggest up
and coming soccer stars. During
her three years in Vancouver she
was part of the team that became
the W-League 2004 Champions and
finishing the following year in third
place in the 2005 season.

Internationally, Lang holds the
record for youngest player ever
to notch a goal in an international
game. She scored against Wales at
the Algarve Cup on March 3, 2002
at age 15 years, 132 days. Sadly,
Kara has never won a major title
with Canada but has been an integral
force behind Canada’s build up to
making and finding players across
this vast country with the talent of
Kara’s in hopes of one day claiming
a major tournament title.

Kara Lang will go down in
Canadian soccer history as one of
the very best players to come out of
a country which is known mainly
for its skill on the ice and not at the
beautiful game. Not only is Lang
going to be missed by her friends
and family on the field, she will also
be missed by her fans who were
captivated by her since she, at the
age of 15, took the international and
North American woman’s soccer
world by storm.

I know I will miss her and I
know that Canada will miss her as
well for what she has done for young
girls whose dream is to play for their
country and play the game they grew
up loving and always wanting to
play. I guess now I hope for another
Kara Lang to come to Vancouver
and play for Canada and help win a
major title. And I also hope that the
snow that was predicted to come
before the winter even began stays
away so that I too can play the game
I love without, I hope, ever stopping.