Goaltending has been the spotlight position for the UNBC Timberwolves the past couple seasons if only for the fact TWolves goalies have been forced to respond to a yeomanlike workload.
Brityn Hinsche set a Canada West record for most saves in a season in 2023, a league record that was later topped, and Hinsche came close to that record stratosphere again in 2024 when UNBC opponents forced her to make 124 saves in the 12 games she played.
This year, there’s a new ‘tender in town, Johanna Rathke, who brings international soccer credentials to Prince George, having played for TSV Jahn Calden, a professional team based in Calden, Germany.
Facing another season with an inexperienced team, the rebuilding TWolves are going to have to rely on Rathke’s shot-stopping heroics to keep withing striking distance of their opponents.
“Johanna was just a random contact and wanted to do her masters in biochemistry and we just happened to have the right advisor studying the right topic,” said Neil Sedgwick, who will begin his 10th season as UNBC head coach Friday, Aug. 22 at 5:30 p.m. when the TWolves take on the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in the season-opener at Masich Place Stadium.
“She’s a bit older (22) and I figured she would be a fantastic mentor for the other goalkeepers and she’s been great, on and off the field.”
Hinsche is eligible to return for a fourth season but has an ankle injury and won’t play in 2024. Backing Rathke in goal this year is Lauren Gubbels, who played three games last year, and Canada West rookie Taylor Klassen of Chilliwack.
Second-year defender Alysa LeClerc crafted her game as a defender in the Prince George Youth Soccer Association, as did rookie recruit Chloe Witso. UNBC has also signed first year PGYSA grad Amneet Toor at midfield, who will line up alongside Quesnel product Boroka Peter. Madeleine Heal, another homegrown talent, will compete with RJ Barfoot of Victoria for playing time at striker.
Midfielder Laney Stewart, whose brother Charlie plays for the UNBC men’s team, brings experience from the Vancouver Island Wave club team.
UNBC dipped into the Down Under talent pool a year ago to hook Scarlet Thomas, a midfielder who grew up playing high-level youth soccer in Sydney, Australia and has the tools to become a frequent university-level goalscorer and playmaker.
“She thinks differently that players across the country just because she’s seen the game on a consistent basis and there’s nothing more important than watching the game and being in that culture and we’re real happy to have her back,” said Sedgwick.
The TWolves figure they’ll be able to compete on an even keel against other teams with their attention to detail on defence. The big question is who will; step to take up the goal-scoring slack left with the departure of Claire Turner, who graduated after five seasons playing for UNBC.
Turner scored three goals in 2024, which accounted for 60 per cent of the TWolves’ offence. They scored just five goals in 14 games and finished with a 1-13 record. UNBC also lost to gradaution Kjera Hayman, who led the team with three assists. Kate Ratee, a third-year midfielder from Kamloops, is the only remaining tie from last year’s team who scored a goal in 2024.
“Kate has been playing exceptionally well and she’s continued to learn over the last year what it’s like to be a striker and she brings a character that’s as tough as nails, and she’s just a good team player.
Maleah Fernie will once again anchor the UNBC defence. The third-year Kamloops native proved her durability, playing every minute of every game last season. Kambria Mellum is adept at directing traffic and has the poise as a fourth-year defender.
Chilliwack producer Emily Willmets, who played for Surrey United, this year’s provincial club champions, and Sophie Postlewaite of Victoria are among UNBC most promising recruits and are anxious to prove they’re ready to take that next step as first-year midfielders. Fia Cameron of Revelstoke is the senior member of the midfield squad, heading into her third season.
The TWolves women earned UNBC soccer’s only playoff win, in 2018, when they defeated the Manitoba Bisons 2-1 in a shootout. They went on to lose to UBC in the second round. Under coach Sedgwick, the TWolves made the postseason three straight seasons (2017-19) but have not been back since. The pandemic took the rug out from under their recruiting and there’s been plenty of player turnover in recent years.
“You have to build, it’s not like at UBC where they just keep reloading, we have to be progressive,” said the 58-year-old Sedgwick. “We had players that didn’t come back after COVID because they graduated and some that came back the following year and some that come back that didn’t think they would be back, That really changed the whole recruiting cycle.
“We’ve not got to a stage where we’re a fourth- and fifth-year team. We were very young last year with 11 first-years and this year we have nine first-years and 10 second-years. Just one rookie from last year has left.”
The TWolves compiled a 1-26-1 record the past two seasons and it appears wins will be in short supply again. UNBC is ranked 14th out of 15 in the Canada West coaches’ poll and Sedgwick knows this is a development year for his squad.
“We’re a young group but it’s a really exciting group and it’s going to take some time — it’s not an easy schedule” he said. “Next year, most of them will be in their third year, with a couple of older players and we’re now, at least, on a cycle with good promising (players) that will stick together and not get disrupted by COVID.”
The TWolves will play only BC-based opponents during their 14-game season and won’t cross over to play Prairie Division teams, now that Winnipeg has dropped out of varsity soccer.
While that might reduce travel times to road games it’s not likely to make it any easier for UNBC to compete against their Canada West opponents. At least three of their Pacific Division opponents, including the two-time defending U SPORTS-champion UBC Thunderbirds, Trinity Western and UVic have won national titles recently and all three of those schools are likely be ranked in the top-10 in Canada to start the season.
The TWolves and WolfPack are also set to play Sunday, Aug. 24 at noon at Masich.
