Young soccer Bears set to kickoff 2009

After fielding an extremely young team last season, the Bears soccer team will once again be light on Canada West experience and heavy on potential in 2009.

Head coach Len Vickery and his Green and Gold soccer squad will have only two fifth-year players to rely on this season — Cam Black and Alvaro Campos, who makes his way to the U of A after spending his entire CIS career with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

Those two players will be looked to for all the qualities expected of veteran talent, but the team will also lean heavily on its third-year players — notably forward Brett Colvin who lead the Canada West last season with 13 points.

“Some of our third-year players have to be looked upon, and no one more so than Brett. Brett’s more than demonstrated that he can score at the Canada West level,” Vickery said. “We’re going to look to him to provide some of the offensive threat and, particularly, to score some goals for us again this year as our tremendous young players find their way.”

Not only did Colvin lead the conference in points last season, he also was a conference First Team All-Star, and Second Team All-Canadian. Couple those two accomplishments with being named to this Summer’s Universiade team, and one can see that Colvin’s resumé definitely bodes well for the Bears.

With a short season and opportunities for wins at a premium, training camp has been even more hectic this season with five Bears playing in the Canada Summer Games this past month. Those five players — Osmo Bimba, Sean Colvin, Scott Gilroy, Dean Nothover, and Andrew Hood — only arrived at camp this past Monday, meaning Alberta won’t even have two weeks to train as a unit before their season opener against UBC.

Another obstacle for Vickery is implementing his vision for the team after players spent the summer playing on their club teams across Western Canada.

“We have to spend a lot of time getting everyone on the same page. Letting them know about the program, what the expectations of the program are, how we’re going to look to play, and what the goals for the season are going to be,” explained Vickery.

“In some cases, players are coming to the University for the first time. They’re already having to try and deal with a new environment, sort out their school programs, and so on. We just try and have them get comfortable with our environment from the soccer point of view, what the expectations are going to be, and it has to be done in short order.”

Even though the Bears will field another young squad, that doesn’t mean the expectations will be any lower for the ’09 edition of the Green and Gold then they have been in the past.

“Most people recognize that at the University of Alberta, making playoffs, winning Canada West championships, and challenging at the very least for a national championship is the goal for most, if not all programs at the U of A.”