Women’s soccer preview: October 2 > Another shot at the Blue Davie Wong Sports Editor t’s safe to say that the Royals have not quite found their mid-season form yet. Or if they have, they are hoping to move away from it. The second quarter of the season has seen the team go 0-1-2 against some stiff competition. In week four of PACWEST soccer, the women will be taking on the Capilano Blues once again. Their last matchup in week two ended up in a 1-1 tie, with the Blues drawing even after a fantastic Mikayla Hamilton strike. With both teams unable to find a mistake to capitalize on, the game rolled out to a draw. This time around, the teams are meeting on different terms. The Blues have also been struggling. In the last three games, the team has surrendered four goals, scored two, and gone 0-1-2. Their last game was a defeat at the hands of the Langara Falcons. That doesn’t mean that the Royals can take their North Vancouver opponents lightly. They have been having their own struggles as well. Defensively, the team has been doing rather poorly. In three games, the team has allowed five goals against while only scoring three. Mathematically, if the team lets in 1.6 goals a game, and only scores 1 goal a game, they're going to lose quite often. The team needs to tighten up defensively. They’ve needed to do that since week one, and with the season hitting its peak, there is some concern, because they seemingly still haven't got it figured out. The other way they could go at it is to just score more. Their offence has been fairly standard, averaging just a single goal in each of their four games since the VIU explosion. If they go the route of more offence is the best, the team will need to score one more goal a game. Halfway into the season, two players have really emerged as the Royals’ best scorers: Andrea Perrotta and Mikayla Hamilton. If both those players find a way to get a goal in the same game consistently, then the offence of the Royals should be enough to push them past most of their competition. Though the pairing has looked better in the last few games, they still aren’t quite on the same page. With a little more fine tuning, the duo could be one of the deadliest in the PACWEST, playing a similar role to last year’s duo, Danae Harding and Marni McMillan. The problem is, there really isn’t much of a season left to fine tune. At this point in the season, every game matters, and a loss could really be costly in the standings. Quite often, teams will mention that they try to “peak” at the right moments in the season to come into playoffs hot. For the Royals, this would probably be a good week to start climbing that hill before it turns into a mountain. (¥ Canucks to start their pre-season against the Sharks (¥ Meet your Captain: Michelle Wessa (¥Y Putt-ing away the dreams And more! WOMEN'S SOCCER INSTITUTION CONF PTS LANGARA 3-1-2 u VIU 2-0-4 10 CAPILANO 1-13 6 DOUGLAS 1-2-3 6 QUEST 0-3-2 2 MEN'S SOCCER INSTITUTION CONF PTS CAPILANO 4-0-1 B3 VIU 3-2-1 10 DOUGLAS 3-2-1 10 QUEST 2-3 6 LANGARA 0-5-1 1 Canucks to start their pre-season against the Sharks > What Canucks fans should expect out of the 2016-17 season Chandler Walter Assistant Editor round this time of year, Vancouver Canucks fans from all over are getting out their sweaters, dusting off their skates, and otherwise preparing for another thrilling season of NHL hockey. While the Vancouver Canucks did not end their latest season on the highest of notes, some changes in the off-season may give hockey fans in Vancouver a reason to havea little hope. The Canucks signed free agent Loui Eriksson to a six-year contract, adding some power—and hopefully goals—to their offence. He’s expected to play on the first line with the Sedins and add the strength and scoring prowess the team had been searching for in Radim Vrbata, who left the team this summer. Eriksson will be turning 31 before the first game of the 2016- 17 season, which is no cause for concern, at least not to Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning. Benning has put faith in Eriksson being well worth the six-year, $42-million contract, even though, in his last year on contract, he will be 37, which is way past the age of productivity for most premier scorers. In response to this, Benning told Sportsnet: “Maybe with other players that would’ve been more of a worry, but having known him in the past, I don’t think that’s something we have to worry about going forward.” The Canucks have boosted their roster with two other notable additions, as the team acquired defensemen Erik Gudbranson ina trade that sent Jared McCann and a couple of draft picks to Florida. Standing at 6-foot-4, Gudbranson will add some muscle to the back end, as well as depth to an always depleted Canucks defence pool. The team also signed highly- touted NCAA defenceman Troy Stecher. The 22-year-old grew up cheering for the Canucks, and may be just what the team needs to wash the awful taste of last season from their mouths and start fresh. In contrast to Gudbranson, Stecher stands at only 5-foot-8, though he told the Province in an interview that he knows how to : use that to his advantage: “A lot of smaller skilled guys can bea bit perimeter, but I like to get into corners and fight my way around the bigger guys and try to use my body to an advantage.” While (some) Canucks fans are notorious for jumping ship as soon as the going gets rough, the waters are looking calm and hopeful for those who have stayed Image via Wikimedia aboard. If there is anything that defines being a true Canucks fan, it is sticking it out in a storm, and they will have a chance to begin a season anew come Tuesday. The Canucks begin their pre-season by battling the Sharks in San Jose, before returning to Rogers Arena the following night to square off against the Edmonton Oilers.