Women's soccer review: September 24-25 > Mid-season form? Davie Wong Sports Editor Wee experts debate over which teams in the PACWEST are truly elite, two teams are always in the discussion: The VIU Mariners and the Douglas College Royals. This week of action saw both teams butt heads in an epic battle. The last time these two giants met, they raked up a total of 10 goals between the two of them. The match resulted in a tie, but the goals scored were the real highlight. Since then, the Royals have gone on to win one game and tie their other, while the Mariners has yet to win or lose a game, tying up every time they played. The Mariners would establish the tempo of the game right from the start. Catching the Royals on a slow start, the Mariners would tuck away 3 goals in the first 15 minutes, sending a stunned Chantalle Bracken into dismay. Stunned and disorganized, the team would re-rally and find a way to climb back onto the scoreboard with a wonderful goal from Putt-lng away the dreams > Men’s golf team falls short on home soil Davie Wong Sports Editor [: been a tough season of golf for the Royals men’s golfing team. The team that had originally come into the season hoping to repeat their National ambitions is pretty much gone now. They instead look to salvage their season as they find themselves crawling along on the bottom of the PACWEST standings. There was hope that the men would be able to find themselves on home soil, playing in the Lower Mainland for the first time this season. Those hopes were quickly dashed on the first day. Playing on the Westwood Plateau golf course, which boasts 18 holes and a 72 stroke par, the team struggled to find their form. Fourth-year golfer Steven Hayes led the team on the scoreboard, finishing the day with a stroke count of 76. However, it was the rest of the team that really fell short. Second-year captain Josh Legge continued his sophomore- slump, and wrung in day one with a whopping 81 stroke total, which was tied by fellow Royals golfer Ryan August. Daniel Porter and Travis LeClair, two other Royals, were closer to the mark with a score of 75 and 77 respectively. Day two brought minimal improvement to the team. Legge finished the day with 80 strokes to bring his total to 161. Porter and LeClair struggled to finish strongly, and ended their day with scores of 82 and 87 respectively. Porter would end his campaign with a score of 157, while LeClair finished with a 164. Steven Hayes also had a bad day on the green, and ended the day with 78, ending the weekend with a team-best 154. However, the score would put Hayes tied for 16th which is much lower than the team needed. The weekend can be seen as a heartbreaker for the team. While ambitions of a National berth were still whispered about going into the weekend, they have all but disappeared coming out of it. The Royals sit at the bottom on the PACWEST standings with a cumulative stroke count of 1881. They trail the first place Camosun Chargers by 122 strokes. The team needs a real miracle (or disaster) for them to even consider Nationals anymore. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The Royal’s roster is fairly green this year. Boasting a roster with three second-year players, all of whom are in the midst of asophomore-slump, and three rookies, who have just gotten their first taste of PACWEST action this season, the team can really look to next year as a bright point. Steven Hayes, who is in the middle of his fourth year of PACWEST play, is the sole veteran player. His experience on the green shows, and if he comes back next year, the team may well have a shot at redeeming themselves. However, their eyes will have to be focused elsewhere, as the team travels to Vancouver Island next week to play in the VIU Invitational to end their season. With Nationals pretty safely out of reach, the trip will likely be more of a personal one, where players will be looking to end their season on a high note. rookie defender Mary Allworth. They would take the 3-1 score line into half time, where Coach Chris Laxton made some tactical changes to his struggling squad. Goalkeeper Chantalle Bracken, whose shaky start was heavily exploited by the Mariners, was replaced by Alexa Gazzola. The change was just the highlight of the few Laxton made to stabilize stabilize the squad. It worked as planned, but not quite to key. The team stabilized in the second half, not allowing a goal. However, they also failed to get on the board themselves, and would fall to the Mariners, 3-1. The next day, the team travelled to the interior valley to play against the Quest Kermodes, and hoped to find a win there. The Kermodes, which had the Saturday off, prepped for the Royals’ flamboyant offence, and the team could find little in the first half of play. However, the Kermodes offense also struggle to tuck a shot behind Royals goalkeeper Gazzola, who got the start for her team. It wouldn't be until late in the second half that the Kermodes broke the game open with a devastating shot from Meet your Captain > Michelle Wessa, women’s soccer co-captain Davie Wong Sports Editor Wwe Michelle Wessa enrolled in Douglas College’s Sports Science program, she thought that she was stepping away from the realm of competitive soccer. Little did she know, she was carving a path to greatness in her own way. Born in 1993 in Vancouver, Michelle Wessa didn’t start playing competitive soccer until she was seven years old, which is older than most other collegiate players. She began playing with her cousin, whose father coached a team. When her father began helping his brother coach, Wessa found herself playing alongside her cousin, and quickly fell in love with the game. She played throughout her adolescence, and after graduating high school, was recruited by Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She studied there for two years while playing on the team, but would eventually take her leave from the program. Wessa explained her reasoning behind the decision in an interview with the Other Press. “It was just a lot. You were practicing how many times a week and then had games on the weekend. And I wasn’t really doing anything at Kwantlen in terms of schooling. I liked the program here at Douglas.” However, transferring programs was not the only thing Michelle did. She also stepped away from competitive soccer for two years to focus on her studies. A rocky start at KPU had done little to convince her to continue playing, and with her education- focus locked, she thought she was done with playing high-level competitive soccer. Image via douglascollegeroyals.ca a But over the span of two years and dozens of recreational soccer games, the competitor in Wessa called out for more. She yearned for a harder challenge and a more competitive environment, and she knew just where to find it. She contacted Chris Laxton and expressed her desire to try out for the team. The first time she stepped back onto the field in a collegiate uniform, Michelle Wessa could tell that this experience was going to be a different one. “I loved coming back into competitive soccer last year. I knew some of the girls from some of my classes and of course, I knew Tiffany O’Krane from my years at KPU. Having relationships prior to coming on to the team was comforting and meeting everyone else was great. I found a spot on the team and I did well and I was confident, and I was playing more consistently than I ever had” Her confident play earned her a spot on the roster come the time of the pre-season cut, and by the end of the season, she had worked herself into the starting u. Wearing the number 14 and just outside the penalty box. Gazzola got a hand on the shot, but it wasn’t enough to drive it away from the netting as the Kermodes drew first blood. With the game on the line, Andrea Perrotta would find a way to just barely tie it in injury time witha beautiful finish. The goal could not have been timelier, as the whistle blew for the end of the game just after her play. The team would end the game 1-1, and walk away with the point. It would be the only point the team grabbed, as they finished the weekend 0-1-1. playing in the role of defensive midfielder, Wessa played a large part in last year’s Championship team, and is one of the few from that roster to come back. Her experience is invaluable to the team, and many of the younger players look up to her. For Michelle, that feeling is a new one, as just last year, she looked up to many of the players she played with. “It’s interesting,” she explained. “Just knowing that you're one of the people they look up to and you have to be the one encouraging them to work hard and keep pushing. Last year, I had a number of people that I looked up to and now I’m that person, which is crazy to think about, because when I joined the team last year, I didn’t think I’'d ever be that person.” So when Chris Laxton announced her captaincy, which she shares alongside second-year student Samantha Kell, no one on the team was more surprised that her. “I was a little taken off guard, I was excited, and I was nervous,” she recalled. “I know people have mentioned I’m a leader on the field, but more-so in the sense that I lead by example. I talk a lot off the field but not so much on the field so I’m learning how to be a lot more vocal and helping everyone else figure out what to do in their position. It’s definitely a learning curve.” But no matter how hard it may get, Wessa knows that she can count on her teammates. All of them are supportive of her new role within the team, especially co-captain Kell. Their support means a lot to her, and that environment creates a unity that must be ready to face the toughest of the tough as the team goes on to defend their title and continue their winning ways.