Local legs will power the UNBC Northern Timberwolves women's soccer team next season.
On Tuesday, UNBC head coach Mato Mikic revealed he has received commitments from seven recruits, six of them from Prince George and one from Quesnel. New faces in the 2011 Timberwolves lineup will be Caitlin Lamble, Sydney Wilson, Sydney Hall, Jo Ribeiro, Jordan Hall, Regan McMillan and Tanya Grob. All but Grob -- who is from the Goldpan City -- are P.G. products.
Mikic is pleased with the technical abilities of the group as a whole. These players, and a handful of returning veterans, will be tasked with improving on the team's 0-11-1 record in 2010.
"Last year, we had a limited amount of high, technically-skilled players," said Mikic, whose T-wolves were a fourth-year club in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association. "We were working on basics with most of the players, just to perform at some level where we didn't get blown away by other teams. I'm always a believer, and I believe we could have won four or five games last year but it didn't happen. We just didn't have the experience to achieve that. With these [new] girls, who have been playing soccer since they were babies, more or less, we do have players that are well-rounded."
Lamble, a graduate of D.P. Todd secondary school, was a freshman midfielder for the Ashford University Saints this past season. The Saints, based in Clinton, Iowa, compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Mikic plans to use Lamble at striker.
"She's not afraid of shooting it from any distance," said the coach, whose squad gave up 29 more goals than it scored last season. "Without goals, you can't win the games and if you don't shoot you can't score the goals."
Wilson will probably play at outside midfield, while Sydney Hall and Ribeiro have the versatility to fill just about any spot on the pitch. Jordan Hall is a goalkeeper and McMillan and Grob are both defenders.
Wilson, Sydney Hall, Jordan Hall, McMillan and Grob are all graduates of the Prince George Youth Soccer Association's Showcase Academy.
Also on the recruiting front, Mikic is hoping to bring Vancouver player Diamond Smith into the UNBC program. Smith is a defender who caught Mikic's eye at the Western Canada Soccer Showcase tournament, April 22-24 in Burnaby.
The Timberwolves will hold an identification camp on May 14 at the Northern Sport Centre fieldhouse. All interested players from Grades 10 to 12 are welcome to attend.
