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Offseason Recap:
Whitecaps look to be all white heading into the season

By Eric Wilkins, Staff Writer

ith preseason getting
into the swing of things
and the regular season

inching ever closer, the Vancouver
Whitecaps look set for a solid
second year in the MLS due to a
flurry of offseason moves under
new head coach, Martin Rennie.
Starting with the biggest and
most recent addition to the squad,
the Caps picked up Middlesbrough
man Barry Robson as their second
Designated Player. The 33-year-old
is currently playing in England, but
should be available for selection
sometime in July. While some
have criticized his age, the Scottish
international appears to be still in
fine form, having put up eight goals
on the season already, which is a
very decent total for a midfielder.
His much-needed presence is
sure to stabilize the middle of the

park for the Whitecaps, who often
seemed to not have any midfield at
all last season.

Another name-brand player to
make his way onto the Caps’ roster
is Sebastien Le Toux, formerly of the
Philadelphia Union. The Whitecaps
acquired him in a shock trade that
left the Union with nothing more
than the ever dubious “allocation
money.” With the addition of Le
Toux (25 goals, 20 assists in two
seasons), the front line is beginning
to look fearsome. With Eric Hassli,
Camilo, Le Toux, Darren Mattocks
(number two overall selection in the
draft), Long Tan, and Lee Nguyen
(may also be employed in the
midfield) all on the payroll, Rennie
looks set to move the team to a 4-3-
3 in order to get more of his lethal
strike force on the field.

“Defence wins championships.”
The old adage was clearly on
Rennie’s mind as well over the

dreary winter months. Korean
international and former Tottenham
Hotspur’s star Lee Young-Pyo

is another major piece added to

the puzzle. While the left back is
getting on in the years (he’s 34), the
experienced defender still has much
to offer to the team, and offers an
immediate upgrade at the position.
Also joining the Caps backline is
Argentinian Martin Bonjour. The
centre back has spent the last few
seasons in Uruguay and represents
another wise decision by the new
head coach.

Of course, the team also said
goodbye to several familiar faces
this offseason. Perhaps most notable
was Designated Player, Mustapha
Jarju. The Gambian never found his
rhythm at the club, and was seen
by many as a poor choice to bring
in in the first place. Consistently
choosing his national team over
the club that he had just signed for,

 

Royals going to Nationals

Royals Roundup

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

when the men’s volleyball

team took on the CBC Bearcats
in a heated semi-final battle. All-
stars Jeff Taylor (first team all-star
selection), Rex Fenton (second team
all-star selection), and Graham
Stoliker (all-rookie team selection)
were honoured prior to the match
for their all-star status and shortly
after that the game commenced.

The Royals started off a little
shaky against the Bearcats, coming
out of the gates to a slow start
counter to the Bearcats immediate
presence. Down 17-11 at one point,
the Royals found their game faces
and turned up the heat, marking
a come back to tie it up at 22-22
apiece. From then on the play was
even keeled, with points going back
and forth. At 29-28 in favour of the
Royals, Taylor sent a tip over the
Bearcats wall of blockers to take the
game 30-28.

The Royals took that
momentum right into the second
game, dominating the Bearcats with
an 8-0 start and eventually winning
25-17. The third and final game
looked like it would go right down
to the wire with the score 19-18 for
the Royals, however they decided
to kick it into full throttle and score
six unanswered points to finish
the Bearcats off, 25-18. Jeff Taylor
received player of the match for the
Royals.

20

[ all started on Friday afternoon

With a semi-final win, the
Royals would face-off against the
number one team overall in the
league, the VIU Mariners, in a
Saturday night contest. How fitting.
They took the match 3-1 (25-20, 22-
25, 25-19, and 31-29) in a thrilling
victory which saw the gymnasium
at Douglas College erupt as the
Royals scored their final point of the
evening, sending them to Nationals.

Sam Shaw received the player
of the match award with a notable
19 kills, while Taylor was awarded
the Tournament MVP.

The 2012 CCAA men’s
volleyball championships are
being hosted by the CBC Bearcats
at Columbia Bible College in
Abbotsford, BC from March 8 to 12.

The women’s volleyball team
fell against the Capilano University
Blues in the quarterfinals last
Thursday, 3-0 (28-26, 25-14, and
25-19) to finish off their volleyball
season, forcing them to watch the
rest of the playoffs from the stands
and to cheer for the men’s team
as they marched to the finals. The
number one team in the league,
the VIU Mariners took home the
women’s gold medal in a Final
contest against the number two
team, the UFV Cascades, by a score
of 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-12).

The Mariners will be hosting
the women’s volleyball national
championships in Nanaimo from
March 8-10.

The Royals Badminton team

is also going to the National
championships, sending eight
players to Thompson Rivers
University on March 1-3. At the
provincials, the Royals dominated
going 23-2 in the team event to take
first place and capture their seventh
consecutive Provincial Team
Championship.

The men’s doubles team made
up of the dangerously dynamic
Lou Wei and Simon Wu went an
impressive 3-0, winning their final
match to capture the gold medal
against the Kwantlen Eagles 21-17,
21-17. Both players earned a league
all-star award for their absolute
dominance throughout the year and
will be travelling to Nationals on
Team BC 1.

Women’s doubles partners,
Lisa Chen and Amy Leung won
four out of five matches that they
were a part of, losing in the finals
to Veronica Yeung and Rosalynn
Chong, 7-21, 19-21. They will be
going to Nationals with their silver
medal on Team BC 2.

Mixed doubles partners
Charmagne Yeung and Logan
Campbell will be travelling to
Nationals on Team BC 1 as they
won straight sets in each match
in their event, taking home the
gold. Yeung was awarded a league
all-star while partner Campbell
received top honours being named
the Male Athlete of the Year in
PacWest Badminton.

The women’s singles player,

Jarju was in a hole before he had
even begun. Now, with a fat buyout
in hand, Jarju has retreated to the
shores of Belgium from whence

he came to R.A.E.C. Mons in the
Second Division.

After a miserable finish at the
bottom of the table last season, the
Whitecaps seem poised for success,
or at least significant improvement
this year. Vancouver will make the
playoffs. You heard it here first.

 

In: Sebastien Le Toux, Barry
Robson, Lee Young-Pyo, Lee
Nguyen, Darren Mattocks, Martin
Bonjour

Out: Mustapha Jarju, Jay Nolly,
Shea Salina, Jeb Brovsky, Nizar
Khalfan, Jonathan Leathers,
Alexandre Morfaw, Peter Vagenas,
Philippe Davies, Greg Janicki

 

RuiLin Huang took home her
fourth consecutive Provincial
Championship, winning all her
games in straight sets. Langara’s
Alisa Young was simply no match
for Huang as she showed no mercy,
taking the match 21-6, 21-8. Now
Huang will travel to Nationals with
Team BC 1, in attempt to win her
fourth consecutive National Title.
She also won the Female Athlete

of the Year honours in PacWest
Badminton.

And last but surely not least,
men’s singles player Bob Sharma
will be going to Nationals on
Team BC 2 with his silver medal
after losing to Luke Couture from
Langara 21-14, 21-19, and 21-19.

@ Logan Campbell and
Charmagne Yeung