Kwantlen Eagles lose to Columbia Bearcats on second away night

By a final score of 105-85, the Kwantlen Eagles lost to the Columbia Bible College Bearcats in Abbotsford Saturday.

The game started well, with the Eagles leading 26-22 at the end of the first quarter.  However, the Bearcats were ahead five points by the third quarter, and when the fourth quarter started, they had doubled that to 10.

The night before, the Bearcats also hosted the Eagles, who won 71-64.  The Eagles have had eight wins and seven losses this season.  Their next game is against the Langara Falcons on Friday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m.

Kwantlen Eagles soccer women’s success celebrated

The Kwantlen Eagles woman’s soccer team flooded the Surrey campus with red last Thursday evening, as they celebrated their record-breaking bronze win at the National Soccer Championships in Ontario.

Students and staff gathered in the main entrance of C building to welcome the team with a roaring round of applause, as they addressed the crowd, flouting their provincial and national medals with pride.

The balloon-filled room was full of emotion as the team laughed through a slideshow of their journey to Toronto, and cried through the numerous speeches addressed to them.

David Atkinson, President of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, was one of the first speakers to congratulation the team.

“Thank you for what was the wettest weekend of my life,” said Atkinson, later joking that he “had to go home immediately and drink half a bottle of scotch.”

After extending an offer to take the whole team out for dinner, Atkinson couldn’t help but mention the accomplishments the university has made during his first year as president of the university.

“I have become very fond of saying ‘this year has been a year of firsts,’” said Atkinson, noting that Kwantlen received university status, established a Senate and now are receiving their first bronze medal for soccer.

Atkinson also surprised the team with a brand new soccer field, which will be built at the Newton Athletic Park by 2010. The field will be owned by Kwantlen, and feature a brand-new Eagles scoreboard.

“See what happens when you win a championship?” said Atkinson. “We spent $2 million. What a great deal!”

After Atkinson’s speech, members of the team shared some of their memories of their journey in Ontario for the national championships.

“We took the longest route possible, [with] shootouts,” said Kelsey Doherty, during her speech. “The ending? Victorious!”

When the time came to describe the big win, there was only one thing the girls could say:

“Overtime penalty kick it was,” said Sarah Davies, “and it landed us third place.”

While the ceremony Thursday evening ended with food and beverages, this is not the end of the Kwantlen Eagles celebration. In 2010, Atkinson will be back to congratulate team members ne more time as they celebrate with an official banner-raising ceremony.

Kwantlen women’s soccer comes home bearing national bronze

The Kwantlen Eagles women’s soccer team arrived home Sunday from the Canadian Colleges’ Athletic Association National tournament in Toronto, with bronze medals around their necks.

Along with the bronze, they hold the title of being Kwantlen’s first-ever team to win a national medal.

Starting goaltender Amelia Ng, who was earlier named MVP at the provincial tournament that sent the Eagles to the nationals, was proud of the way her team turned things around after starting their season 1-4.

“We grew at the right time,” she said. “We just started working hard and played well together. There was not one individual who worked harder than anyone else to get to where we are now. We worked as a team.”

Coach Vladimir Samozvanov was equally as proud of his team.

“I didn’t change anything from the beginning of the season. I knew the girls could play better, I had confidence [in them]. Luckily, things turned out well. It felt great to accomplish what we did,” he said.

Kwantlen’s only loss in the national tournament was to the eventual national champs, Concordia University College of Alberta.

The Eagles had a slow start to their season, losing four of their first five games, but finished strong with two big wins over Thompson Rivers University, their first ever, and UBC-Okanagan, a team who beat them in September, 2-1. Those wins propelled them to a berth in the Provincial tournament.

The Eagles charged through the B.C’s, winning gold, and moved on to the national championships.

The 2009 National Champion Kwantlen Eagles are: Amelia Ng, Rosemary Kelly, Samantha Lewis, Tara Makrigiannis, Marissa Dionne, Meghan Springford, Colette Coulter, Jaqueline Rempel, Brittany McNeill, Shanay Sangha, Christine Walker, Courtney McCulloch, Christina Henderson, Jacqueline Buchler, Taylor Sarchet, Kelsey Doherty, Thoralea Pilton, Sarah Davies and Meghan Nilsson. Coaches are: Vladimir Samozvanov, Joan McEachern and Kim Bull.

 

Late rally not enough for an Eagles hoops win

As UBCO huddled and cheered, the Eagles stood on the floor, dumbstruck, unable to believe what had just happened.

The Kwantlen Eagles men’s basketball team fought hard Saturday night against the UBC-Okanagan (UBCO) Heat, but lost 65-63 when UBCO’s Alex Roth scored a buzzer-beating lay-up.

The teams were evenly matched, as they swapped leads throughout the game, and the Eagles led by one at the half. But after half time, it’s as if a different team had come out on the floor. Kwantlen’s field goal shooting stalled in the third quarter and missed foul shots began to add up.

Down by double-digits late in the fourth, Kwantlen’s Dustin Egelstad led Kwantlen to within three points of the Heat and Varinder Singh tied the game with three foul shots after being fouled beyond the arc.

Fourth-quarter Heat rally leads to tough loss for Lady Eagles

Despite a strong effort, the Kwantlen women’s basketball team dropped their second game in two nights to the UBC-Okanagan (UBCO) Heat 60-52 Saturday.

UBCO scored the first basket of the game, but after that, Kwantlen didn’t fall behind until the fourth quarter, when UBCO came storming back and took control of the game.

Both teams had an aggressive outing, but early on, everything went Kwantlen’s way. The Eagles led by as many as eight at one point, and when the two teams were tied in the first half, UBCO couldn’t get a single basket to fall.

At half-time, the score was 29-28, but the Eagles had control of the game. Kwantlen’s Jessica Williams and Emily Wright drove the tempo in the first half, each scoring seven points, and fourth-year veteran Taminder Dhaliwal had six.

Kwantlen’s dominance continued through the third, but when the fourth quarter started, a couple of baskets by the Heat shifted the momentum. UBCO scored 19 points in the fourth, compared to Kwantlen’s eight. Jenna Kantz and Audrey Siebert-Timmer were the Heat’s top scorers in the game, scoring 11 and 10 points.

Although Kwantlen didn’t come away with a win, Eagles coach Gary Pawluk had a positive view of the game.

“The girls battled tonight. We played tough. That’s a very good team, UBCO. They’re big and they’re very good in transition,” said Pawluk. “There was some intense play and we battled very well. Unfortunately, we didn’t shoot the ball well and the end result was the score.”

Pawluk said that when Kwantlen is shooting well, they are tough to match and that will be one of the team’s strengths this season.

“Basketball is all about rhthym and when you get in rhythm, you become a very good shooter. It’s tougher to get in rhythm in games. That’s the challenge we face,” he said.

Kwantlen’s next game is Friday, Nov. 13, the first of two games that weekend, in Victoria against the Camosun Chargers. The Eagles don’t play at home again until Jan. 29, 2010.

Women’s basketball tips off Oct. 1

The Kwantlen women’s basketball program tips off its 2009-10 season Thursday, Oct 1, when they host the 10th annual Kwantlen Eagles Basketball Tournament.

All games in the three-day event will be played at the gymnasium on Kwantlen’s Surrey campus. This pre-season tournament is drawing teams from the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Squamish who are all looking to prepare for the coming British Columbia Athletics Association (BCAA) season, which gets going in early-November.

“Expectations are quite high this year,” said Kwantlen Eagles coach Gary Pawluk. The second-year coach expects his team will be competitive, but will be in tough to unseat last years defending BCAA league champions from Victoria, the Camosun Chargers.

This years Eagles have eight players returning from last year’s squad, as well as one fifth-year pick-up. Their experience is the reason Pawluk is so optimistic about the season.

The Eagles tournament schedule will see them play three games in three days beginning Oct 1, with a game against the Douglas Royals. They will then play the Capilano Blues and Langara Falcons over the next two days.

“It’s all about preparing for season play,” said Pawluk. “We want to try to play all the teams in our league before it starts.”

There will be no final game to determine a winner in this tournament. The format sees all teams play three games and a champion determined based on points for and against. The team with the biggest positive differential in this category will take home the trophy.

Tickets for the tournament will be of minimal cost, said Pawluk, who was unsure of exact ticket prices. There will be reduced ticket prices available for Kwantlen students and tickets will be available at the door.

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.

Coach working to turn Eagles baseball into an event

As the weather warms and the fields dry, the start of baseball season nears for the Kwantlen Eagles. Jessica Rolli provides a words-and-pictures look at this year’s team.

With baseball season approaching, the Kwantlen Eagles are taking steps to ensure a successful season, both on the field and in the stands.

Head coach Rob Webster is hoping to make the games at their home field at Macleod Park in Langley more of an event, and working to create an atmosphere that people will look forward to attending.

“Game days will be a blast. The score board will be up and going, we’ll have an announcer for in between innings, and when the players come up to bat, they’ll have their own music,” said Webster.

Webster is also working with the township of Langley to, one day, have a beer garden at the games, and a game-day events coordinator who is planning different activities for the fans.

“Hopefully, we’ll get to a point where people will say, ‘Hey I got nothing to do, let’s go check out the Kwantlen game,’” said Webster.

The team will put on fundraising events that will also be aimed at engaging the community. A pub night has just been approved and is in the works, as well as a raffle where the first prize will be a trip for two to New York to see a Yankees games.

Although a strong fan base is priceless for any sports team, Webster and the team have been working hard to ensure they play a good game for anyone who does come out to watch.

They practice six times a week and are constantly on the look-out for skilled players.

“There’s a ton of talent that has come out of here that have gone on to the big leagues,” said Webster, motioning to the posters laced around the diamond, printed with names and MLB logos.

One of the names is Brett Lawrie, who became the highest drafted Canadian, at the young age of 18 last year.

Kwantlen’s recent upgrade to a polytechnic university has helped entice some of the local talent to stick around and play for the Eagles.

“Now I can draw from players who want to take a trade and I can offer a solid four-year degree to prospective players,” said Webster.

The team’s first regular season game will be a double-header against Vancouver Island University on March 28. An up-to-date schedule of their pre-season games is available online.

Profile: Omid Davani

Omid Davani. (Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison photo)

Name: Omid Davani
Number: 21
Position: Guard
Height: 6’4
Year: First
Program: general studies
Hometown: Port Coquitlam
Favourite actress: Jennifer Aniston
Favourite basketball movie: Coach Carter
Favourite food: his mom’s lasagna

On Omid Davani’s basketball team, every person has a different character on the court and in the dressing room—there’s the star forward, the distributor, the big guy, the veteran and the list goes on. Davani’s role? The rookie.

And what a year this rookie has had so far. In 12 weeks of play, he’s averaging nearly 17 points a game, ranking him 10th best in the league. His rebounding average of nine a game is even better, placing him fifth.

The 18-year-old from Port Coquitlam had a modest start in basketball, joining his first team in when he was 13, where Davani admits that he had his work cut out for him: “I wasn’t very good at all. I sucked.”

Two years later, when he made the move to Terry Fox secondary school, he was cut from the junior team. But when someone quit the team soon after, he took their spot. Davani said, “from then on I appreciated any minute I got.” The work paid off, and he was named team captain in his senior year.

After graduation, Davani made the move to the Kwantlen Eagle’s basketball club, and said it was like “going from a dog cage into the wild.” He admits the transition from a structured to free-flowing offense was weird and his increase in minutes on the floor has been a challenge. “It’s tough, but I’d rather be playing and getting injured than sitting on the bench,” he said.

Another thing that’s changed for Davani is his pre-game routine. “My philosophy this year was ‘new place, new changes.’ So, last year I had to do everything twice: tie my shoes twice, go to the washroom twice, wash my face twice, everything I did I had to do twice. But this year, because I changed everything, I don’t do that anymore.” Instead, his only routine is that he puts on his jersey halfway through the warm-up: “that way it’s not too sweaty.”

Davani said that basketball is his sport. “It’s in my DNA, I love it. The feeling you get scoring the tying point, getting that fast break or stealing the ball, being a part of the big play—it’s so much different than any other sport. It’s five guys playing as one. It’s unexplainable I guess.”

His goal is to one day play basketball internationally, and would like to tryout for the league in Iran, where his parents are from. But for now he’ll enjoy the perks of being a rookie: “I learn a lot from the older guys on the team…they give girl advice, too.”

This is the second in a series of occasional profiles of Kwantlen Eagles’ team members.

RELATED: Profile: Taminder Dhaliwal

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