Caps getting set for MLS

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

ome very exciting news came for the
S city of Vancouver as the Vancouver

Whitecaps recently signed their
very first Major League Soccer player in
defender, Jay DeMerit. The 30 year old
Wisconsin native has played 23 times for
his country which includes all four starts
at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and
has spent the last six seasons playing for
Watford in England including the 06’-07’
season in the Premier League.

DeMerit is going to be looked at as the
leader and foundation for the Whitecaps
organization in their first season in the MLS.
“There’s something that’s really inspiring
about trying to start something new and
being a part of an organization that has even
bigger aspirations,” said DeMerit. “For me,
it’s always been about the challenge, about
the journey. It was always about, “What can
I achieve next? What person can I prove
wrong now? You fight and you accept the
road that comes along with it”.

Because of the MLS expansion process,
the Whitecaps had the top priority in signing
any U.S. international player returning
home to play in the MLS, so they went
after Jay DeMerit. DeMerit was pursued in
an aggressive manner with the director of
soccer operations Tommy Soehn expressing
the importance of building a successful team
from the backend out.

WHITECAPS
5! Seg

 

oe

Jay DeMerit

Vancouver will be joining and taking
part in the 2011 MLS season this spring,
becoming the second Canadian team to
do so, following the successful launch of
Toronto FC in 2007. Montreal is set as
well to join the MLS in the 2012 season.
Toronto has sold out every home game so
far in their franchise, and will be looking
forward to having some sort of Canadian
team rivalry develop this year with the

Whitecaps who have sold more than

season.

15,000 season ticket deposits for their first

The Whitecaps will play their first
few games at Empire Field this season
where the BC Lions played this year, while
BC Place Stadium is under construction
with the new and improved retractable
roof being set. As soon as the BC Stadium
project is complete, the Whitecaps will

 

 

be moving in there and will likely stay
there until the 2015 MLS season. In the
meantime, the organization hopes to
finalize and build the Whitecaps very

own stadium where they can partake in
their home games which will be called
the Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium. This
big project will hopefully be built in
downtown Vancouver in time for the 2016
MLS season.

 

Reynold Stewart

 

Royals get Swamped

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

‘ \ Fell, with the results of week two for
the Douglas Royals men and women’s
basketball teams, it doesn’t look like
they’re looking too hot. Not exactly the starts that
they were looking for. Both teams got swamped
last weekend against the Vancouver Island
Mariners, who are mind you, the top team in the
league which doesn’t exactly help the Royals
“1 chances.

The Mariners absolutely destroyed the men’s.
team on Friday night by a score of 115-68 and
then decided they’d do it again on Saturday night
with a score that wasn’t nearly as bad but was still
bad at 100-80. With those two losses the men’s
team is sitting at the bottom seed in the league
with zero points and zero wins in four games.
Now, the women’s team on the other hand didn’t

@ do any better, getting downright embarrassed

by the Mariners in both their games. The first
game on Friday night ended with a final score of
108-27. Wow. And then in their second game the

| Mariners left the Royals in the dust once again for
} a final score of 101-44. Like the men’s team, the

i women’s squad find themselves at the bottom of
the pecking order with zero points and zero wins
in four games.

On a brighter note, Reynold Stewart,

who plays on the Royals men’s soccer team,
was awarded the Canadian Colleges Athletic
Association Player of the Year Award. Yes, that
is quite the accomplishment to think that our
very own Royal took home the award out of all
those soccer players across Canada. And out of
all those soccer players across Canada the five
nominees were striker Patrice Dion of Francois-
Xavier Garneau, striker Kailen Murphy of Seneca
College, striker Brian Peters of University of New
Brunswick-Saint John, and midfielder Thiago
Silva of NAIT.

Stewart is currently enrolled in his third
year at Douglas College and has made a name
for himself in the process of those three years.
He has earned in the past two years the BCCAA
Player of the Year, twice...the BCCAA Provincial
MVP, while also getting the BCCAA First Team
All-Star. But it doesn’t stop there, on top of all
that, Stewart finished this season as the BCCAA’s
leading scorer for the second consecutive year
with 15 goals in 12 games. This guy does it all.
The only puzzle piece that’s missing in Stewart’s
resume is a National Championship which
the Royals have come so close to under his
leadership. They finished this season in first place
in both the CCAA and the BCCAA but failed to
repeat as Provincial Champions.

21