Kwantlen student wins Jack Webster journalism award

Third-year Kwantlen journalism student Christopher Sun was one of the seven winners of Jack Webster Foundation Student Journalism Awards, presented at the foundation’s dinner Tuesday, Oct. 20.

Kwantlen’s journalism program was well-represented by 25 students, who attended the dinner held at the Westin Bayshore downtown.

Other student winners included Trevor Crawley and Leasa Hachey from Langara College, Jenny Fremlin from Thompson Rivers University, Leia Hutchings and Jacob Barker from BCIT and Cecilia Geryson from UBC.

The 25 students from Kwantlen were joined by almost 1,000 others who attended the dinner and saw some of B.C.’s best journalists given credit for their work.

The event, emceed by Global TV’s Chris Gailus, drew big names. CBC sportscaster Brian Williams was the keynote speaker; Bill Good of CTV and CKNW won the Bill Hutchinson Lifetime Achievement Award; and Les Leyne of the Victoria Times-Colonist won the City Mike Award for Commentator of the Year.

CBC was the big winner with five awards, including Best News Reporting of the Year – Television and Best News Reporting of the Year – Radio. The Vancouver Sun took home three awards and the Globe and Mail, CTV, Kamloops This Week and Fairchild TV each won one.

Women’s soccer team’s spirit unbroken

Through the Kwantlen Eagles’ women’s soccer team has started their season off 1-4, their spirit isn’t broken, said head coach Vladimir Samozvanov.

The young team, made up of 10 rookies and nine returning players, is in the middle of a rebuilding season, but they’re making progress every game.

“Yes, we are in a rebuilding year, but I hate to call it that because I don’t want to write off the season,” said Samozvanov. “I want to accomplish something.”

The team might do that. Samozvanov said this is the best team he’s had in his three years of coaching Kwantlen’s women’s team.

Last weekend in Kelowna and Kamloops served as a “very valuable maturing experience” for the team as they played the two top teams in the league, UBC-Okanagan (UBCO) and Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

Against UBCO, the Eagles had an even match with the Heat, the score 1-1 until the 85th minute, when the home team scored the winning goal.

In Kamloops, it was another tight game, but after key injuries to goaltender Amelia Ng and midfielder Christina Henderson, the TRU offence found the back of the net. Kwantlen kept the WolfPack on their heels, but couldn’t find an equalizer, dropping the game 1-0.

Samozvanov is optimistic about upcoming games though, saying that his team’s mental toughness and their talent will be the solution to their early-season struggles.

The Eagles have three home games over the next two weekends, the first of which is this Saturday, Sept. 26, against the Douglas College (DC) Royals.

Samozvanov knows that DC will give them a tough, physical game, but he isn’t worried.

“Our team has shown over the last two games that they’re here and ready to play,” he said. “I haven’t made any specific preparations for this weekend, but I haven’t seen Douglas play this season.

“Once the game gets going, I might have some ideas about where to put everyone, but…we need to rely on skill and determination and we have both.”

Men’s soccer season off to a slow start

The 2009 season hasn’t started the way the Kwantlen Eagles men’s soccer team had hoped.

Their 0-5 record doesn’t look great, but head coach Richard Goddard said the team has played better than it looks.

“We’re a young team and getting progressively better. The final scores, especially our last game against UNBC, [don’t] dictate the chances we’ve made,” said Goddard.

He said that because this year’s team is young – there are only eight returning players, two of them goalies – some players will make mistakes at the worst times. What needs to happen is getting the players to work through their  learning curve and have them ready to play at any time.

The fact the players come from different leagues is part of it, too. They still have to learn to play together.

The Eagles have lost twice to UNBC and once to Capilano College this season but Goddard said that they haven’t lost to just any team. He’s been impressed with the play of both Capilano, a powerhouse in the university men’s soccer world, and UNBC.

Kwantlen looked to turn things around this weekend in Kelowna, against UBC-Okanagan (UBCO), and in Kamloops, against Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

Goddard, who started coaching the team at the beginning of the season, made changes to the line-up for the trip because of many players returning from injury and thought that these changes would make a difference on the field.

“We’re hoping to have a vast majority of players available who are coming back from injury,” he said, going into the weekend. “I believe we will be better prepared.”

Those changes didn’t make much of a difference. The Eagles lost 4-0 to UBCO Saturday and 3-1 to TRU Sunday.

The Eagles’ next home game is this Saturday, Sept. 26, against the Douglas College Royals at noon at Newton Athletic Park.

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