Must wins for teh Heat men. Games Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Game times
SAT:
Men’s Soccer – vs. the Langara Falcons, Saturday (2 p.m.) at Nonis Sports Field, UBC’s Okanagan campus*
SUN:
Men’s Soccer – vs. the Quest Kermodes, Sunday (2 p.m.) at Nonis Sports Field, UBC’s Okanagan campus
*The university will honour their fifth year and graduating players on the Saturday home game before the student-athletes respective game. (WSOC: Jennifer Kidd, Taylor Sarchet, Hayley Uyeyama, Madeleine Greig, Ashley Albores, Lana Finley) (MSOC: Kennedy Hindley)
Men’s Soccer – Playoffs are at the doorstep and the Heat men’s soccer squad is not out of the woods yet. Then again, several teams are in the same position as the PACWEST men’s playoff picture will literally come down to this weekend.
The fourth-seeded Heat have an identical record with the fifth-seeded Vancouver Island Mariners, but the Mariners have the tie-breaker over the Heat in the event of a tie at the end of the season. Depending on the weekend’s results, it is possible for the Heat not only to supplant the third-seeded Douglas Royals, but for the Royals to get edged out of the playoffs entirely.
Perhaps the biggest game of the Heat’s year will be the bout with playoff-bound Langara on Saturday. The good news for the Heat is that they already showed that they can beat the league’s number one when they squeezed a 3-2 win in Richmond on September 21. However, the team knows not to get complacent. Holding a 3-0 lead near the beginning of the second-half of their first match with Langara, the Heat would see the veteran and savvy Falcons forge a late comeback that would scare the Heat, even though time would inevitably be on their side. At the very least, the Heat now know the value of poise when facing situations that would usually take the confidence out of most teams.
Regardless of the outcome with the Langara matchup, the Heat will have a good shot at ending their regular season on a high note when they host the eighth-seeded Kermodes on Sunday. To date, Quest has been unable to capture a win against its PACWEST opponents this season, and has a point differential of -18. They are, however, capable of at least drawing a tie or coming very close with even the best in the league, as they have tied Langara and narrowly lost 1-2 to the WolfPack. The Heat cannot approach this match like a cakewalk, and will need a repeat performance of their 4-1 win in Squamish against the Kermodes to bolster their chances of making the dance.
The Heat kickoff against the Falcons Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Nonis Sports Field, and then they will close out their regular season against the Kermodes Sunday at 2 p.m.
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