Last year, Lianna Toopitsin was thrown into the fire as the UNBC Timberwolves soccer team's go-to goalkeeper.
Having played just 45 minutes in goal in her rookie season, Toopitsin amped that up considerably in 2016, playing 1,080 minutes in 12 games, and with a young team in front of her she was kept busy. Toopitsin faced 81 shots, fourth-highest in the Canada West Universities Athletic Association.
The T-wolves were thinking Toopitsin would be back to pick up where she left off for a third season at UNBC but it turns out the Westside Academy graduate has opted to go to Scotland on an academic exchange.
"Lianna was instrumental to the way we wanted to play and she became our 11th attacker and for a goalkeeper who didn't play a full game the year before she took on the challenge of leading us from the back with incredible bravery," said T-wolves head coach Neil Sedgwick.
"Now she's going on to study abroad, which is a loss for us, but we're delighted with the two goalkeepers we have coming in."
The two new faces in net, Brooke Molby and Madi Doyle, are both natives of Squamish. Molby, a 19-year-old who visited the UNBC campus in March, announced this week she's committed to the T-wolves and will study psychology at UNBC.
Molby is a three-year veteran of the West Vancouver Soccer Academy and played for Mountain FC, one of the top teams in the B.C. Soccer League, the highest level of youth soccer in the Lower Mainland.
"Brooke graduated out of the league last year, so she took a year off, and now she's ready to come back and go to school and play again," Sedgwick said.
"She's very confident, a good decision-maker and she's comfortable with the ball at her feet. She's a strong shot-stopper, able to pull off the game-winning saves and she continues to be eager to learn and grow. She has a great deal of experience and will bring a strong technical foundation to the Timberwolves."
Molby spent two days in March training and practicing with the T-wolves. She's well aware the team went winless last year in Canada West, finishing with a 0-12-1 record.
"I hate to lose," Molby told UNBC sports information officer Rich Abney. "I like to be in that position where I can be the factor that stops those goals from going in and (am) a major contributor to the game.
"I think this is a really good, developing team. I like the idea of being a part of their progression," Molby said. "I really like the girls. They are so nice."
Molby, a graduate of Sentinel secondary school, is looking forward to working with Sedgwick.
"I really like his demeanor as a coach," she said. "He isn't super loud, and in your face. But he really understands goalkeeping, which is really important to me.
"I would like to be a starter, but we will have to see how it goes. There will be other goalies coming in, so it should be a good competition."
Doyle, 18, played last season in the Vancouver Metro league. Being from Squamish, Doyle knows Molby, and Sedgwick says that will help them form some chemistry while they battle for playing time.
"Madi played in the Metro league, which is very competitive, and is very brave and really likes the environment we have, one that's based on development, and she will continue to grow in that environment," said Sedgwick.
"Let's hope they won't see 81 shots," he said. "We'll definitely be a little bit older and more mature at the back. Brooke and Madi both bring great experience to the team and it will be fun to see them behind the back four."
UNBC will have as many as 15 returning players in 2017. The Timberwolves trained throughout the winter at the Northern Sport Centre fieldhouse and worked on their ball-handling skills playing futsal in the gym. From late-February to early-April, the T-wolves played a series of six exhibition games and will resume their exhibition schedule Aug. 18-19 in Kamloops, taking on Thompson Rivers University and Grant MacEwen. They also have games scheduled in August in Summerland against UBC Okanagan, Lethbridge and Douglas College.
The U Sports season begins the second week of September with the start of a 14-game women's league schedule (the UNBC men will play 16 games). Sedgwick said most of the players will play over the spring and summer in women's leagues in their home cities. From August to April, the T-wolves will play 25 games and will have about 125 training sessions.
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