Royals MSOC face tough Blues challenge > Slumping Royals will face the league’s best Davie Wong Sports Editor fter a tough opening week, the Royals men’s soccer team will be looking to steal a win against the PACWEST’s best men’s team so far, the Capilano Blues. Safe to say, this will be a tough one. The Blues lost a couple of key pieces of their team during the offseason, with the departure of talented young striker Kristian Yli- Hietanen being the biggest loss. However, they kept some of the larger parts of the team together for another dominant season in the PACWEST. Hudson Nelles returns as one the PACWEST’s best goalkeepers. Even without his partner, Keith Jackson is set for another dominant season. Looking at their results last week, the Blues dusted the Langara Falcons. Keith Jackson scored a hat-trick, and Hudson Nelles had three saves to clinch the game, 4-1. The only weakness that seemed apparent was their aggressiveness, which earned them three yellows and 15 fouls, but as last weekend showed, the Royals have plenty of aggression issues of their own. The Blues are a team known for their strong set pieces, and the Royals will have their work cut out for them as they were slaughtered off set pieces last week. Something the Royals do have going for them is the Blue’s schedule. Slated to play the VIU Mariners after the Royals, it’s highly unlikely the Blues will prep to play the Royals, whereas the Royals only have the Blues to play. Training leading up to the match will be focused solely on exploiting the Blues, as well as shoring up some of the Royals’ issues... of which there are a lot. I already mentioned set pieces, but that leads to the greater picture of defensive organization. The Royals’ backline was a sloppy mess last week. While it got better against VIU, it still wasn’t good enough. Offensively, it has been a messy situation, with goals coming out of chaos rather than organized play. Crosses have gone to no one, and opportunities have fallen flat due to the lack of support. While it’s understandable that coordination takes time, the team has a long way to go in order to compete. My prediction would be that the team loses this game, 2 or 3-0. If they get a draw, that would be an amazing result for this young team. The team should be using this game as a competitive learning experience. It’s still early in the season, and while going 0-2-1 to start the year is concerning, teams have bounced back from much worse. Royals WSOC jumpstart season > The team finishes week one atop of the PACWEST Photo by Davie Wong »)) > Davie Wong Sports Editor xpectations have never been higher for the Royals women’s soccer team. With a twelve-game regular season, it is important to get off on the right foot (or left foot, whatever you would prefer). After their season opener was postponed due to air quality, the Royals had the opportunity to start their season at home against the Quest Kermodes. Unfortunately for both parties, the weather wasn't kind to them. Rain for the first time in two months dampened Vancouver, as well as the teams’ match. The rain would make for an ultimately sloppy affair for both the Royals and the Kermodes. Ina game where the Royals recruiting class shined, it was rookie Caitlyn Limmayog- Danielson who struck first, smoothly netting her first of the year—and her career. The lead would not last, however, as the Kermodes’ Kelsey Green slammed home a screamer from 20 yards out that was just out of the hands of the Royals keeper Alexa Gazzola. With that, the teams took the 1-1 game into halftime. The second half was dry in play but not in weather. As the rain poured in, neither team could find a way past the opposing backline. The Royals had a couple of chances, but could not convert on the slippery ball. After 90 minutes, the score settled at a1-1 tie. Although the result was less than desired, the play was fantastic. The Photo by Davie Wong Royals looked threatening in all aspects of the field, playing a fluid 4-2-3-1. Although they didn’t get the three points they were looking for, they looked quite in form heading into their gold medal rematch against the VIU Mariners. Against the reigning PACWEST champions, the Royals really showed up. Captains, and midfield duo Samantha Kell and Michelle Wessa, had themselves quite the day. Wessa bagged the first goal, scoring 19 minutes into the game to give the Royals the head start that they wanted. 20 minutes later, Samantha Kell would put her scoring touch on the game, bagging a second for her team before the half-time mark. Determined to get back into the game, the Mariners powered into the second half. A breakaway looked to be an assured goal before Royals keeper Alexa Gazzola robbed them of their comeback. Kell would tack on another shortly after, burying the final nail into the Mariners coffin. It was a dominant performance overall from the Royals, whose 3-0 rout of the Mariners must have been rather satisfying. The win and tie put them at the top of the table at the end of week one with four points. They are trailed by the Langara Falcons, who registered two ties this weekend to pick up two points. The rest of the pack sit atop one point pillars, a win behind the Royals. It’s worth noting that the Royals do have a game in hand over two of the teams in the PACWEST.