Okanagan FC PCSL

It was the warmest weather to date as OFC took to the field to defend the turf against the Penisula Co-op team from the island. It was a sluggish start to the match for OFC and they found themselves chasing the ball while Peninsula Co-op maintained the majority of possession. The occassional times that OFC secured the ball they were dangerous rattling shots off the cross bar and just wide but it was the Co-op who broke the deadlock at the 33rd minute taking the 1-0 lead into in the first half.

In an attempts to rejuvinate the line up several changes were made at half to get fresh legs on the pitch to hopefully spark some offense. Unfortunately, it was the island team that capitalized on their chances and at the 60 minutes marked notched another goal. Despite several attempts to claw a goal back the Co-op goalie was up for the challenge pushing away attempts by Madie Greig, Kirsten Dodds and Kyra-Rae Horvath. Peninsula managed to secure another goal off a long range shot which richocheted off the post & OFC goalkeeper at the 80th minute. OFC still fighting to make something happen finally found the back of the net in the 88th minute off a fantastic corner by Paige Howes in which 1st year player Kyra-Rae Horvath connected with heading it in. Too little too late and the Penisula Co-op walked away with the 3-1 victory.

“It was a bit uninspired and disjointed today. I know that we can play much better than we did which is a shame as we only get to see the island team once this season & it is important to capture as many points as we can from those teams.” ~ Claire

Okanagan FC Currently sit in 6th place in the PCSL Premiere Women’s Division. They will have this weekend off but will be preparing to host Fraser Valley Action Saturday May 27th.

With only 1 point to the programs name last year Okanagan FC, although competitive, just couldn’t find a win. In contrast, the 2012 season is off to a flying start. Facing Abbotsford SC on the road OFC did well to come together and fight for the 3 points. A much quicker game than the previous two exhibition matches OFC took a bit to settle into the match but had some great spells of play that had Abbotsford hemmed in. Kirsten Dodds broke the deadlock in the 25th minute with a well placed strike. OFC carried the 1-0 lead into the half.

Second half Abbottsford came out strong and a miscue on the back line in the 1st minute of the half left a wide open Abbotsford player at the top of the box – resulting in a tying goal. Match continued to be hard fought, back and forth until the 75 min when Marissa Klees sliced the ball past the Abbotsford keeper for the go ahead goal.

Next Match vs Victoria Highlanders Saturday May 12 3pm @ UBC Okanagan

News Feed (goheat.ca), Soccer (W) | March 29, 2012

Claire Paterson will coach the Okanagan FC club again this summer.
The UBC Okanagan Heat women’s soccer team has joined forces with the Okanagan FC Premiere Women’s Soccer team to enhance the development of the top level women’s soccer players in the region.

The Okanagan FC play against elite teams from British Columbia in a national amateur women’s soccer league called the Pacific Coast Soccer League (PCLS). They will face fierce competition including the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Prospects, Vancouver Thunderbirds, Fraser Valley Action and Victoria Highlanders. Many of these teams are comprised primarily of current university/collegiate athletes.

“It’s a fantastic way to improve the level of our UBC Okanagan program as well as provide an opportunity for the elite female athletes in the area,” says Heat head coach Claire Paterson.

This year, the Okanagan FC will be a mix of UBC Okanagan players and players that have been part of the Okanagan FC in previous years. “There has been a great buy-in from current UBC Okanagan players and many of my out of town student athletes are choosing to stay over the summer to play together. It looks like over half of the roster will be made up of current Heat players and UBC Okanagan women’s soccer prospects.”

Paterson has been the head coach of the program for the past three years and is excited for this summer’s collaboration to keep more Heat players in the Okanagan practicing at a high level year-round.

“This arrangement is a perfect fit as it’s an extension of the university team,” comments Paterson. “Providing our student athletes an opportunity to play in the top level amateur league in B.C. will take us to the next level. It’s fantastic that this opportunity is available for our student athletes.”

Paterson has seen the success of having university student athletes playing club together over the summer months as the UBC Okanagan team has been elevated to new heights. The Heat finished 1st in their division in 2010 with an impressive undefeated season and repeated with a first place finish in 2011 with only one loss. The Heat have also qualified for the provincial championships the past three years in a row, earning a Bronze medal in 2010, a Silver medal in 2011, and made the first ever Championship appearance in program history in 2009.

“As we are aspiring to that next level of play and getting into the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport), it is important that we provide this kind of opportunity to our players,” says Paterson. “Moving towards year round training really sends the message that we are serious about our soccer program at UBC Okanagan.” “The players that are staying are so excited and can’t wait to get back outside. They’re really looking forward to playing PCSL together which is fantastic.”

The Okanagan FC program will start in early April with practices and games held at the Heat’s home turf, the Nonis Sports Field.

A premiere women’s PCSL team from the Okanagan has been in existence since 1999 with a hiatus from the league from 2005-2007. The premiere women’s spot has changed hands several times through its existence, previously being tied to the Okanagan Challenge (1999, 2000, 2004), Kelowna/Okanagan Predators (2001, 2002, 2003), Kelowna United (2008) and the Okanagan Whitecaps FC (2009, 2010). The latest name change came in 2011.

Heat players that have confirmed their participation in the program are as follows:

Hayley Uyeyama (3nd year, Defense, Kelowna, BC)
Kristen Dodds (1st year, Forward, Vernon, BC)
Michelle Smith (1st year, Midfield, Vernon, BC)
Sabrina Gasparac (4th year, Keeper, Langley, BC)
Marissa Klees (2nd year, Mid/Forward, Bellingham, WA)
Taylor Sarchet (3rd year, Midfield, Surrey, BC)
Janelle Neill (RS, Defense, Chilliwack, BC)
Elizabeth Babcock (3rd year, Defense, Calgary, AB)
Lana Finlay (1st year, Forward, Kelowna, BC)
Madeliene Greig (2nd year, Midfield, Penticton, BC)
Justine Drosdovech (2012, Defense, Kelowna, BC)

Several Congratualtions to hand out to OFC team members as they had outstanding seasons with their respective college / university programs.

- Chantal McFetridge member of the CIS Champions Queen’s Gaels team. Chantal slotted home her penalty kick to send Queen’s into the Gold Medal match vs Montreal.

- Christine Tallon and Paige Howes members of University of Alberta Panadas who finished with a Silver medal in CANWEST and 5th at CIS Nationals.

- Vanessa Zilkie member of the TRU women’s soccer team who captured the PACWEST Championship title and was named TRU player of the game for the gold medal match. TRU placed 4th at the CCAA Nationals.

- Hayley Uyemama, Sabrina Gasparac, Emily Braun, Kelsey Satterfield, Kirsten Dodds, Michelle Smith of UBC Okanagan captured Silver Medal at the PACWEST Championships. Sabrina Gasparac was also named PACWEST 1st All-Star and Kirsten Dodds named to the 2nd team.

A weekend home series had the OFC squad competing against the 3rd place Fraser Valley Action on Saturday June 11. From the kick off the Action dominated ball possession and caused OFC some difficulty as they strung passes together cutting through the OFC defensive efforts. Exceptional goalkeeping from Christine Tallon thwarted the FV attack for a while but the Action managed to captialize twice before the half time whistle. Determined to work hard and claw a goal back Okanagan FC battled hard and created a couple of good scoring chances but were kept off the scoreboard. Fraser Valley potted home a thrid goal in the 50th minute to put the game out of reach.

“We came out for this game with a couple of goals in mind – limit their set piece opportunities and work hard to compete. We were successful in both these aspects and I am happy with the strides we have made.” Claire

The second match of the weekend had OFC defending the turf against second place Whitecaps Prospects. To this point the prospects have not lost a game and have only dropped points to UBC Thunderbirds with a 2-2 tie. Okanagan stepped up their game and played very hard from the starting whistle. Another great effort by goalkeeper Christine Tallon kept the WFC Prospects at bay for the first part of the half and however they were the first to get on the scoreboard (28min)when a ball squeeked through Tallons grasp. Determined to answer back OFC continued to press and in the 40th min Paige Howes was sprung with a through ball and she slotted the ball past the ’Caps goalkeeper to tied things up.

The Prospects came out hard in the second half but OFC was up for the challenge and defended 7 corners to keep them off the score board. It wasn’t until the 75 minute when the Prospects went ahead after they were awarded a penalty shot after Michelle Smith was seen to impede their top player & U20 National team athlete as she went to attack a corner. OFC continued to fight and Jessie Weninger nearly scored as she hit a ball that bounced and beat the goalkeeper but just a bit too high and it slipped past the crossbar. Late sub Ashlee Davison was the hero as she riffled home a volley in the 45 min to tie the match 2-2.

“I am very proud of the team as we really stepped up our game. We are getting more comfortable with each other and are starting to play more as a team. We have set a new bar for ourselves and will strive to build upon todays preformace. This is a great confidence booster as we go into the second half of the schedule.” Claire