The final home game of a university athlete’s career is a significant and somewhat sobering occasion.
But for the five graduating players on the University of the Fraser Valley men’s soccer team – goalkeeper Mark Village, defenders Ravi Singh and Trevor O’Neill, midfielder Ryan Liddiard, and forward Juan Pablo Mora Perea – this is no time for reflection.
There’s far too much left for them to accomplish.
The Cascades’ home finale on Saturday vs. the Victoria Vikes (women 5 p.m., men 7:30 p.m. at Abbotsford Senior Secondary) is but one of four games left on the schedule. And the UFV men are locked in a fierce battle for a playoff spot.
So if you’re seeking sentimentality from these guys, look elsewhere.
“I’m trying not to think too much about the future,” said O’Neill, who wears the captain’s armband for the Cascades. “I think we just all want to end on a good one, and get into that playoff spot.
“But yeah,” he added, “it is pretty surreal that it will be our last home game.”
O’Neill’s all-business attitude is natural, considering his team’s circumstances. The Cascades are perched squarely on the playoff bubble – their 4-4-0 record (12 points) has them occupying the fourth and final playoff slot in the Pacific Division, just behind third-place UBC Okanagan (4-5-1, 13 points) and just ahead of fifth-place Trinity Western (3-4-1, 10 points).
Thus, this weekend’s games – on the road against the defending national champion and current CIS No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds (8-0-0) on Friday, and Saturday’s tilt with CIS No. 6 UVic (6-1-1) – loom awfully large.
“Motivation’s not going to be an issue, that’s for sure,” noted Liddiard, whose two goals this season are second-most on the Cascades. “We’re playing the national champs (UBC) . . . and UVic’s always good.”
It takes a bit of prodding for the UFV seniors to indulge in some reflection. Liddiard can recall his first weekend of Canada West regular season action – on the road vs. Lethbridge and Calgary in the fall of 2010 – like it was yesterday.
“It was definitely a step up, that’s for sure,” he recounted with a smile. “The pace was a lot quicker than anything you experience in youth soccer – it’s a lot of crash-bang, and you have to be physical.
“It goes by really quickly.”
While O’Neill, Village, Singh and Liddiard are all local Fraser Valley products, Mora Perea’s road to UFV was slightly longer – he hails from Morelia, Mexico.
He moved to Mission with his family in 2010, and walked into Cascades head coach Alan Errington’s office in early September of that year. The longtime bench boss was initially skeptical of the 5’9” forward’s claims that he’d played semipro soccer in Mexico and had landed a tryout with the L.A. Galaxy of Major League Soccer. But it took just one training session for him to realize that Mora Perea was legit.
“Usually players say, ‘I’ve played this, I’ve played that,’ and they’ve never kicked a ball in their life,” Errington said with a chuckle. “He was one that was telling the truth.”
Mora Perea, who has scored one goal this season, sat out the 2013 campaign after taking a job with Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service. His teammates convinced him to come back this fall for one more run with the soccer team, and he’s managed to juggle practices and games with his UFV classes while maintaining his full-time firefighting job.
“I worked a night shift last night, so it’s a little bit tough, but it’s worth it for sure,” said Mora Perea, who has one year of eligibility remaining but won’t be returning next year. “These years with (the Cascades) have been pretty much the entire time I’ve been in Canada. More than a soccer team, I found a family.”
In terms of legacy, this senior crew has a solid one. After enduring some lean early years, they were instrumental in the program’s growth, culminating in the team’s first-ever Canada West playoff berth in 2013. From there, they knocked off the Alberta Golden Bears and UVic en route to the conference bronze medal.
“There’s individual games that you remember,” Liddiard noted, “but as a team, that was the highlight.”
Errington said that all five seniors are tremendous leaders in their own ways. O’Neill, Village and Liddiard are quite vocal, while Mora Perea and Singh are quieter, lead-by-example types.
“Ravi is very quiet – I don’t think he speaks to himself,” Errington cracked. “But all five of them are really big influences on the team . . . They’ve got that experience that rubs off on the younger kids. Just the way they train, they set the tone. They set the standard.”
“You want to leave the rookies something to work with,” explained Village, a Canada West second team all-star in 2012 who recently returned to the lineup after a concussion-related absence. “You want to leave them with a sense of team.”
On Saturday, Village, O’Neill, Singh, Liddiard and Mora Perea will be honoured in a pregame ceremony.
WOMEN’S TEAM BATTLING FOR TOP SPOT
The Cascades women’s soccer team, by way of contrast, doesn’t have a single fifth-year player on the roster this season – an enviable position for head coach Rob Giesbrecht, as his entire squad is eligible to return.
That’s a scary prospect for the rest of Canada West – UFV is an elite side already, never mind how they’ll look in 2015 with more experience under their belts and zero grad losses.
The Cascades (7-1-0, 21 points) are in a fantastic race with the Trinity Western Spartans and the Vikes (both 7-0-1 for 22 points) for a top-two finish in the Pacific Division, which comes with the right to host a quarter-final playoff game.
“We haven’t lost at home yet, and UVic will be our toughest home game of the year,” Giesbrecht noted. “We love playing in Abbotsford, and we’d love to have the opportunity to play a playoff game in Abbotsford.”
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