Program cover for Derby Week, featuring Kaitlan Cerney and Gabriel Escobar

Matchweek 9/10: Derby Week

A great Friday of good results at home against Rivers has seen our women’s team climb into the fourth and final playoff spot and our men’s team is well positioned to reclaim top spot in the league as we work through our games in hand.

This weekend is a double header, with our final home game of the year on Friday night against Burnaby, followed by round 2 of the Ironworkers Derby away at Altitude on Sunday afternoon.  Your weekly newsletter is packed full of previews, match reports and news about some of our players who are moving on from their time at TSS Rovers.  

Here we go!

This week’s opponents

July 5, 2024
v Burnaby FC
Swangard Stadium

  • TSS Rovers FC Women (3-4-1, 4th) v Burnaby FC Women (6-3-1, 2nd), 6:00 pm
  • TSS Rovers FC Men (4-1-3, 3rd) v Burnaby FC Men (1-5-3, 7th) 8:30 pm

The first matches of the weekend will be our last League games at Swangard and we will host newcomers Burnaby FC.  Burnaby women have been strong this year and feature several players who appeared for us last yeah including Camellia Xu in goal and Molly Quarry, Maya Rogers, and Shanya Dhindsa. They also feature Canada U20 and former Varisty player Holly Ward up front.  They are certainly a team to be recokend with and will be a good test for our women, who had their best outing of the season last week.  

On the men’s side, Burnaby have been floundering at the bottom of the table for much of the season. With our squad experiencing several changes in the past couple of weeks, this will be a good test for Brendan Teeling’s men as we look to consolidate an excellent performance against Rivers on Friday and move back into first place in the division.

July 7, 2024
@ Altitude FC
Kinsman Field, North Vancouver
Tickets

  • Altitude FC Women (2-5-4, 6th) v TSS Rovers FC Women (3-4-1, 4th), 1:00pm
  • Altitude FC Men (5-2-3, 1st) v TSS Rovers FC Men (4-1-3, 3rd), 3:30pm

The Ironworkers Derby against Altitude is already becoming a classic match, and attending the game at Kinsman Field is a favourite away day for our supporters.  Altitude will be looking to prove themselves against us, as we took all six points off them on May 17, handing the men’s team a 6-0 defeat, which was our biggest margin of victory in Rovers’ history.  Since then the men have gone on a tidy run and sit first overall in the league, but we have two games in hand on them.  This is a must-win match for the guys if we are to win the league, and coming on only two days of rest, it will be a tough challenge and a heated match.

The women will look to continue their three-game win streak against Altitude over the past two years. We have been growing more cohesive and focused over the past few games, and Friday’s win over Rivers was the best we’ve played all season, bringing us into the playoff race. All told, a big weekend awaits both teams. Get out and support them!

Last week’s recap

Women’s Team
Rovers 2-1 Rivers

The opening 15 minutes gave a good indication of where this game may be won. Rivers were operating a high line that TSS made multiple attempts to breach. The pace of Jenna Baxter, who has provided the attacking energy for TSS throughout the season, was proving a real threat. Rivers probed, getting forward quickly but offering little in the final third and lacking the attacking impetus TSS had in Baxter. The best chances of the first half came in quick succession; two Maddy Mah efforts were denied by Kelsey Fisher in the Rivers goal, the keeper saving smartly to keep her side in the game and level at the interval. 

Rivers’ high line was finally exposed in the second half. Katie Bishop sent a divine through ball between the Rivers defence, opening up space for Jenna Baxter to receive it in the box, skip past Fisher, and slot home for the opener 69 minutes in. Rivers showed intent going forward following the goal, though their chances of equalising were reduced when Kambria Mellum received a second yellow for kicking the ball away. Cara Freeman gave TSS a late scare when her 30-yard effort struck the crossbar, with the away side battling to the end but coming up short. 

In a well-fought win where they remained patient in the final third, TSS consolidated their play-off aspirations in what was an expected win. Rivers, who battled hard but lacked a goalscoring threat, saw their hopes of a play-off spot all but ended. 

TSS captain Kirstin Tynan on the season run-in and securing that last play-off spot: “I’m confident in our group; each game we’ve built off of our last performance… we have games in hand, and we’re still seeing that progression.”

On how that progression has developed: “We’ve been working on the core fundamentals of our game while still trying to have fun, letting the football speak for itself.”

Men’s Team 
Rovers 5-1 Rivers

Rivers began the night on the front foot and perhaps should have been the beneficiary of a refereeing decision five minutes in. Rivers’ Ryan Lewis looked to have been brought down by TSS keeper Connor Adams five minutes in, with the referee waving on play as the Rivers players appealed. A wake-up call for TSS, who responded quickly and scored the opener five minutes later through Massud Habibullah. The number nine, who must step up following the departure of Devin O’Hea, netted his second of the season with a cool finish from close range. The hosts doubled their lead when Tyler Dhillon darted forward before slamming it past Gavin McFee in the Rivers net. TSS had a healthy 2-0 lead going into halftime.

Rivers returned fire just minutes after the restart, with Ryan Lewis’ looping header beating Adams in what turned out to be a mere consolation for the visitors. Ivan Mejia replied for TSS within a minute, before Habibullah netted his second goal of the night 10 minutes later. After missing the start of the season due to injury, Erik Edwardson returned to action when he was substituted on with three minutes to go. His first touch was a free kick that went over the crossbar. If it wasn’t already game over, Michael Hennessy made sure of the win when he was left free to run through the Rivers defence before firing past McFee for five.  

After a month without a win, it was a return to winning ways for TSS. Top spot will go down to the wire. TSS, Whitecaps and Altitude are all in contention.

News shorts

Players moving on: You will notice some changes in our roster when our men’s team takes to the pitch on Friday night.  Devin O’Hea (2022-2024) is moving on to the pro game with his first stop at USL2 side Flint City Bucks, a storied Michigan team with whom he will play out the USL2 season. Gurman Sangha (2019, 2024) has signed with Australian side Altona City in the Victoria State League 2. We wish them all the best on their journey.

Playoffs: League 1 BC has announced the play-off schedule for the League 1 Cup.  The semi-finals will be contested over July 26-28 as single-match playoffs.  The first and second-place teams will host the semi-finals, and the finals will be played at Swangard Stadium on August, with the women’s final kicking off at 1pm and the men’s final at 4pm.  The Finals don’t have a bearing on the Canadian Championship berth for the men or the Inter-Provincial Championship berth for the women. Both of those spots go to the winners of the respective Leagues.  

Juan de Fuca Plate: The Juan de Fuca Plate is a trophy awarded by supporters to the team with the best-combined points total between the men’s and women’s teams. It is the de facto League 1 BC Club Championship.  Last season, the Whitecaps won it, and they are currently the leading contenders to win the Plate again this year.  League 1 BC is only one of two leagues worldwide to award a trophy based on the combined totals of men’s and women’s teams.  The other is the top flight in Australia, where the A-League Club Championship was initiated in 2023. 

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