Welcome to our TSS Rovers match day newsletter for week two of the League 1 BC season. In this edition we recap the Canadian Championship match against Pacific FC and our opening weekend against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC men’s and women’s League 1 teams.
This week’s opponent
Saturday, May 11
@_Unity FC
Cloverdale Athletic Park, Surrey
Tickets at the gate
- Unity FC Women (0-1-1, 6th) v TSS Rovers Women (0-0-1, 7th), 1:00 pm
- Unity FC Men (1-1-0, 2nd) v TSS Rovers Men (1-0-0, 3rd), 3:30 pm
Unity FC is under new ownership for 2024 and has moved their home games to Cloverdale Athletic Park in Surrey. We have never lost against Unity in their home ground when they formerly played at Trinity Western University. We will look to continue that streak away at Cloverdale.
On the women’s side both teams will be looking for the first win of the season. Unity have a draw and a loss to start the season, including a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Whitecaps, so we share some pain.
On the men’s side, Unity drew the Whitecaps in their first week and are coming off a 3-1 win over newcomers Burnaby FC. Former TSS Rover Grant Verhoeven will suit up for Unity this season. He already has one goal to his account.
Canadian Championship Recap
James take you through the road trip in our match recap
Men’s Team
Pacific 1 (5) TSS Rovers 1 (4)
On May 1, our men’s team headed back to Victoria to play the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship for the second season in a row. We stepped into that spot after Victoria Highlanders withdrew from the league this season, and with less than two weeks’ notice, we prepared for battle. It will take years to tell the story of that night. Suffice to say that our boys did us proud, holding the CPL league leaders to a clean sheet for 98 minutes , and notably scoring the first goal that Pacific has conceded this season as Michael Hennessey on debut opened his TSS Rovers account at 76’ with a superb goal off a beautiful pass from his SFU teammate Devin O’Hea.
We held the lead well into injury time and beyond the 6 minutes added by the referee. Fierce defending by our back line kept Pacific at bay, but they found the equalizer at 90+8’. We went directly to penalties and after Justyn Sandhu saved the first two, it was back and forth and when the dust settled, Pacific had won 5-4.
We are all incredibly proud of this group of players who, on short notice and with minimal preparation, took a quality CPL team to the brink. Our job now is to bounce back, show our quality, and head into our League 1 season with intent.
View the highlights on the OneSoccer YouTube page
Last week’s recap
Read James’ slightly biased view from a not-literal time zone away in the seats at the Library
Women’s Team
Whitecaps 7-0 Rovers
Rovers’ women began their League1 BC season with a heavy defeat as the Whitecaps cruised to a 7-0 win at the Thunderbird Stadium. Jeneva Hernande- Gray opened the scoring ten minutes in before Ashley Roberts got their second ten minutes later. A fantastic Noelle Sather freekick made it three, and a second for Hernandez Gray made it four. Joy Kimwewe headed in a fifth to give the Whitecaps an unassailable lead at the interval.
Rovers had their best spell in the first twenty minutes of the second half, but the Whitecaps soon grew into the game. Hernandez Gray bagged her hattrick, and moments later, Kierra Blundell smashed home another Whitecaps freekick to make it seven for the Whitecaps.
While the result was disappointing, Rovers shouldn’t be too disheartened. This Whitecaps team has had an extensive pre-season and contains some of the finest players across the province. As Interprovincial Champions, they will be Canada’s representatives to the CONCACAF W Champions League starting this fall. All attention must turn to Unity on Saturday, where they’ll be looking to get off the mark.
Men’s Team
Whitecaps 1-4 Rovers
Rovers’ men’s midweek cup defeat was put to bed as they made light work of the Whitecaps at the Thunderbird Stadium. Three first-half goals from Devin O’Hea, Matteo Polisi, and Gurman Sangha put Rovers well in control at the break. The Whitecaps pulled one back during the second half through David Ajagbe, but an imminent Rovers response meant there was to be no comeback. Massud Habibullah finished off a slick Rovers move to make it four.
“It was crucial to win today. We wanted to start strong and set high standards right from the beginning,” said TSS captain Danylo Smychenko. “We’ll carry on building confidence game after game. Today was a great way to start that.”
News shorts
As we have done in past years, we have opened our Charitable Giving campaign to help folks attend a Rovers game who otherwise might not get the chance to do so. We partner with a number of organizations in the Lower Mainland including Big Brothers, Rainbow Refugee and the Harvest Project. You can donate at this link and receive a tax receipt. Donations are matched by the Catherine and Diana Lunde Family Foundation.
TSS Rovers welcomed a new sponsor to the fold this season. Community Savings Credit Union has joined us and is the crest sponsor for our warm-up kits. Being a supporter owned club, it only makes sense that we would partner with a members owned financial institution.
Speaking of sponsors, some of our Swanguardians were sporting cases of Parallel 49 TSS Rovers lager in Victoria this week. Our shirt sponsor has created a special edition of their East Van Lager for our club which will be on sale at Swangard this season and is available for purchase at Parallel 49 Brewing in Vancouver.
