X-Women focussed on back-to-back playoff berths

The season hasn't even started, but the injury bug has already taken a huge bite out of the StFX X-Women soccer team.

Nevertheless, fourth-year head coach Graham Kennedy said the team continues to have high expectations, building on a return to the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) playoffs last season, after an absence dating back to 2011.

"If you would have talked to me two months ago or even three or four months ago, I would have been absolutely over the moon about the possibilities that are in front of us this year," he said.

"However, what has happened over the last three months is, we have sustained a lot of injuries in the summer soccer season."

That injury list includes forward Dani Makar (Calgary, AB), who is out for the season with a torn ACL.

In goal, Kennedy noted sophomore goalkeeper Erin Visser (Whitby, ON) is "very questionable" due to a back problem. "It has really, really been a chronic injury that's gotten to the point where it is hard for her to train," he said, noting she will work on a reduced practice load.

"We hope to have her available for some games."

Defender Courtney Auer-Weatherell (Ottawa, ON) and midfielder Erica Van Wyk (Kanata, ON) are also on the shelf.

"We have had several injuries to key players," Kennedy continued, noting midfielder Claire Gibbons (Ottawa, ON) has yet to return, after hurting her knee last season.

"We are hoping to have her back in October, if all goes well," he noted.

Margaux Fraser (Mississauga, ON), a junior midfielder, will miss training camp and the start of the regular season. "She has a very severe lower abdominal injury that she hasn't been able to get sorted out," Kennedy said.

"She has finally found a medical team in Toronto that's diagnosed the problem and she is missing training camp this year to stay there to continue her physical rehabilitation.

"We are hoping – our target for Margaux is [to return] after Thanksgiving," he added.   

Defender Elise Brennan (Brookside, NS), is out with a torn quadriceps.  "We expect her back by mid-September, if all is well," Kennedy said.

Senior forward Mary MacDonald (Kingston, ON) has decided not to return to the line-up for a fifth season, and will suit up for X-Women cross country, while defender Gabrielle Bergh (Calgary, AB) has graduated.

"We have a lot of holes to fill, and I didn't see that coming," Kennedy said.

"And, I think, what is going to happen now is it is going to create some opportunity for some of our younger players and maybe some of our other players, who haven't put in the kind of minutes that they had hoped.

"Maybe we will get off to a slower start this year than we did last year and have to build along the way a bit more, but we have a good core, we have a good nucleus, in terms of leadership. We have a good team spirit and I think that's going to be a big help," he added.

'No non-sense' Wilkie

As for the returning X-Women, who are healthy, Kennedy said he has "big expectations" for central defender Olivia Wilkie (Rosemere, QC), noting the senior has come into camp "really fit."

"She is a no-nonsense defender; she doesn't take any prisoners, so she is going to have to step up for us in the back," he added.

Last season, Kennedy said junior midfielder and AUS all-star Olivia Czipf (Thunder Bay, ON), after the Gibbons' injury, "really stepped up and had to become more of a dynamic two-way player for us."

"She has made some great strides in areas of the game that often don't get appreciated. She is going to have to continue along that line," he added.

Kennedy described midfielder Brittany Parks (Kennetcook, NS) as "pound-for-pound, one of the scrappiest players in the league."

"She has got to have a good year – the thing about Brittany is she is a really versatile player, who can play a lot of positions, and she is going to have to do that, again, for us," he said.

Kennedy expects junior midfielder Chloe Brennan (Brookside, NS) to become "a more consistent player, who can be a threat in every game."

"I think, last year, she was probably a really strong threat in half of our games, and then there were other games where she was probably a little disappointed in her performance, but I think she has grown into a tougher player, who can concentrate for longer periods of time. I think we can get a lot out of her this year," he said.

The X-Women, who finished last season with a 6-5-1 regular season record – 9-6-2 overall – placed fifth in the conference and earned a quarter-final playoff berth.

To help take that next step, Kennedy and his staff have added five first-year players to the mix.

Strong recruits

Leading this year's recruiting class is Mercy Myles, a distinguished player in her West African homeland of Ghana, where she is interim captain of the Black Queens, the senior national women's team. 

"Mercy is a player that we are really lucky to get. She is that rare player that comes along every 10 years into a program," Kennedy said, noting she is going to have "some cultural obstacles to get through, moving from a West African culture to a Canadian one."

Myles has played in three FIFA Youth World Cups, captained Ghana at both FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cup tournaments, and recently represented Ghana in the African Championships and 2016 Olympic qualifying.

"She is by far and away the most experienced player on our team, and by far and away the most experienced player in the conference, and maybe even in the CIS, in terms of her national team experience and her international appearances," Kennedy said.

The 5'5" central midfielder is enrolled in StFX's Bachelor of Arts program, where she plans to major in development studies.

"So, we are really excited to get her and we can't wait to see how she blends in with everybody and our girls are really excited to play with her," Kennedy said.

Julia Archambault is a 5'10" center forward from the Toronto Lynx soccer club (USL Super Y League) and a graduate of Father John Redmond Catholic Secondary School. She will be pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree as part of StFX's social justice colloquium.

Archambault, who also ran track in high school, has a strong Xaverian connection; her father Brian ('90), a two-sport athlete in football and rugby, and her mother, Diane Ferracuti ('89), are both StFX graduates.  

"She is a really physical specimen. She is big, athletic and she can move," Kennedy said.

He noted Archambault will start camp with an ankle injury. "It is going to require a little bit of time to heal up," Kennedy said.

"I think, once we get her fit, she is a kid that can give us some size, up front, that maybe we haven't had before.

"She presses really well, she runs well, can hold the ball very well. She is like a laundry basket, when you put a long ball into her, she can hang onto it and wait for others to join up," he added.

Miranda Clark, a 5'7" goalkeeper from the Vancouver Island Wave of the BC High Performance Soccer League and the Victoria Highlanders women's team, is a graduate of Reynold's High School, where she spent four years in the Centre for Soccer Excellence, which also produced former X-Men goalkeeper Sam Hutchison. Both were coached by noted goalkeeper trainer Trevor Stiles in Victoria.

"She is going to come in here and push everybody. She is a kid who comes from a real soccer culture and a real strong soccer background," Kennedy said of Clark, who will study in the Bachelor of Arts program.

"She has played in lots of good quality games and I think Nicole MacDonald (Kanata, ON) and Erin Visser are going to have to work very, very hard to stay ahead of her."

Catherine Kennedy, an Antigonish product, and daughter of head coach Graham Kennedy, is a 5'6" attacking player who has suited up with the Suburban Soccer Club in Halifax.  A 2016 Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional High School graduate, who earned female athlete-of-the-year honours, also spent time developing her game with XFC Soccer Club in Nova Scotia and Calgary Foothills Soccer Club in Alberta. Along with soccer, she also excelled in track, rugby and volleyball.

"She is going to bring us something special, in terms of her explosiveness and her speed. She also brings us some technical quality," Kennedy said.

"She is good at receiving the ball; she can run with the ball and is also one of those players who can strike a really good ball."

Paytan Ruiz, a 5'7" defender, is a product of the local XFC Soccer Club and currently plays for Suburban Soccer Club in Halifax and the Nova Scotia U-18 provincial team. A 2016 graduate of Pictou Academy, who is enrolled in the Bachelor of Business Administration program, also has strong ties to StFX. Her mother, Tanya is a 1996 graduate, while her father, Phillip was an AUS champion soccer player at Mount Allison University, who went on to play professionally in the Canadian Soccer League.

"A good athlete – quick, a good mover and passer, along with a good receiver of the ball," he said of the younger Ruiz.

"Just a solid, solid recruit – great character, great student and a kid that I think can play minutes, in her freshman year, and also brings us some height, as well."

In addition to the five recruited student-athletes, there are three other players who could join the X-Women following training camp evaluations; Sarah Bruce and Vanessa Cinel, both of Ottawa; and defender Sophia Italiano, Richmond Hill, ON. They all have experience playing in the Ontario Youth Soccer League, the top one in that province.

"I think they all have an excellent chance of cracking the roster," Kennedy said.

Considering the injuries the X-Women are dealing with, the head coach added "I think you are going to see some of these young players get some time early."

Bruch is back

Along with the newcomers, a familiar face will be back in the X-Women line-up to help improve its depth. All-star midfielder Alix Bruch (Calgary, AB) has returned to her alma mater for a fifth season.

"If you had asked me two years ago, what our midfield would look like right now, I would have been really pleased that it would have included Margaux Fraser, Clare Gibbons, Olivia Czipf and Chloe Brennan. I would have thought, 'hey, that's a great midfield.'

"But, with the injuries that we have had, we have now got Alix Bruch back in the fold and Mercy Myles in the fold," he added.

Kennedy continued that those two players "will be two of the premiere midfielders in the country."

"And, because of that, it changes things on our team a little bit; we are maybe not on the same path, same line that we were moving on last year," he said.

Kennedy added, when you have the change to add high-end players like Bruch and Myles "you have to do it."

"I think everybody in our dressing room is going to benefit by having these two leaders on the field and in the dressing room," he said.

"I am really happy about – I am not happy that we have got all the injuries that we have got, but we are going to compensate for those injuries with these two players and then, hopefully, if we get everyone healthy and get our depth back, we will have enough depth down the stretch to not only make it past the quarterfinal this year, but also make it past the semi-final."

Kennedy noted the AUS receives two berths in this season's national championship tournament. "We would sure like to get one of those," he said.

On the pitch

The X-Women open their pre-season with a trip to the United States for games against St. Anselm (August 27) and University of Southern New Hampshire (August 29).

They will wrap up the exhibition season with a home match against the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics Saturday, Sept. 3 at StFX Stadium.

The X-Women will open the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) regular season with home tilts versus the UPEI Panthers (Saturday, Sept. 10) and University of New Brunswick on (Sunday, Sept. 11). Both games will kick-off at 1 p.m. at StFX Stadium.

-30-