Kodiaks ready to host ACAC Soccer Championships

By Lethbridge Herald on October 27, 2022.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge College Kodiaks' Daniel Okpala watches the ball as it hits the back of the net for LC's first goal of the game on Sunday.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

There will be 12  college soccer teams , including the host Lethbridge College Kodiaks teams, vying for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Provincial Soccer Championships titles at Comet Stadium in Raymond this weekend.

There will be a men’s and women’s champion crowned on Sunday and those winners will head to a national championship.

The men Kodiaks have been to five provincial championships in a row and the girls are making their fourth straight trip.

“Yeah, pretty much the whole time I’ve been coaching we’ve made championships,” said Kodiaks head coach Sean Carey.

“It’s nothing new to us. You know every team can show up on the day and beat anybody and we’re only two years (removed)since we won our championship . So that’s one of the positives we tell the guys (team), and came into that one (and) we didn’t win the league but we came out of there with an Alberta banner. So anything is possible over the weekend. And as long as they go in with the right mindset and you’re able to execute, take your chances, and on the backend make sure that you just keep the other team at bay and your work ethic is huge.”

Carey’s message to his players is that they’ve earned the right to be there.

“We’re kind of fine tuning what we’ve done all season,” said Carey.

“We set a goal at the beginning of the season (of) how the teams were progressing and we feel we’re right there where we want to be for this weekend. You know today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday) will be another couple of days of find tuning. But just talking about game tape and things like that and making sure the players are aware of their roles and responsibilities. Yeah, no, I’m excited.”

Carey wanted the teams to fine tune moving the ball quicker because he’s feels the squads are a lot more successful when they do that.

“It’s when we take a couple of extra touches on the ball that we get caught in possession and then it’s a transition game,” said Carey .

“So, I think for us, we’ve been working on moving the ball, transitioning across the field, switching plays. It’s starting to really come together now.”

Kodiaks’ first-year striker Liam Frost admits it was hard to think about school throughout the week and is pretty excited for the championships.

“The south is pretty physical compared to the north,” said Frost.

“So that’s going to be a big advantage and having the home field advantage here in Lethbridge will be a big thing too.”

Frost thinks success for the men’s team will be everybody taking care of their roles and responsibilities.

“And keeping it simple and not doing too much,” said Frost.

“The system and the game plan with work itself out if we can execute it at the highest level of what we want to do.”

Women’s player Abby Jackson is also a first year and is excited to host with the experience on their roster with players from other ACAC and U Sports schools.

“There’s a few girls that have played up in championships,” said Jackson.

“It’ll be nice to have their expertise and experience to bring to the younger girls and myself as a first year.”

“Every week we’ve taken small steps to get better and our goal is to peak at the end of October,” she said.

The women’s division will have  North Division representatives from Concordia, Keyano College and NAIT while the South Division will have the host Kodiaks, SAIT Trojans and Red Deer Polytechnic.

The men’s side will have NAIT, The King’s University and Keyano representing the north while the south will have the host LC, Red Deer Polytechnic and SAIT.

LC women’s will play their quarter-final match at 12:30 p.m. against Keyano and the men’s team will play at 3 p.m. against King’s University today  in Raymond at Comets Stadium.

The weekend schedule can be found at  www. gokodiaks.ca/ 2022acacsoccerchampionships.