Game Information
Date: Friday, August 23
Time: 7:15 p.m.
Location: Centennial Stadium, Victoria B.C.
Watch:
canadawest.tv
Date: Saturday, August 24
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver B.C.
Watch:
canadawest.tv
Season Story
KAMLOOPS – The 2024-25 Canada West regular season is right around the corner for a Thompson Rivers WolfPack men's soccer team that features plenty of fresh faces. Kicking off their season on the road, the new-look WolfPack team that boasts 18 new players will travel to play both the UVic Vikes and UBC Thunderbirds on opening weekend.
CW SEASON PREVIEW
The 'Pack will be on the hunt for a seventh-consecutive playoff berth in the ultra-competitive Pacific Division this coming season and will hope to rely on some key additions as well as veteran leaders to do so.
Five members of the 2022 U SPORTS National Championship winning squad will be counted on as a veteran presence for the group. Kamloops locals Jonthan Rinaldi and
Domenico Comita are back for another year with TRU alongside stalwart defender
Mikkel Rosenlund and goalkeeper
Olivier Jumeau. Returning for his third season with TRU,
Elijah Dos Santos will once again be looked at as a key contributor.
TRU showed perseverance throughout a rollercoaster of a season last year. The team started the season winless through their first five games before ripping off a run of seven wins in their final ten.
That impressive finish qualified the 'Pack for the Canada West playoffs where they came up just short in a tough battle with the eventual conference champion MRU Cougars.
Gone are many of the key contributors from last year including ten players that graduated from the program. In their place the 'Pack have brought in 18 new faces with a trio of experienced players:
Ben Finley,
Lucas Kirnon and
Lachlan Will expected to make an immediate impact.
It will be a tough test for TRU as they open their season against two perennial conference powers in UBC and UVic.
TRU and UBC split a pair of games last year with both teams earning a win on the opponent's field. The WolfPack and UBC have been entangled in many close matches in recent memory including the 2022 U SPORTS National Championship game that saw TRU win gold on home turf.
A resurgent Vikes squad won a pair of close 1-0 matches against the 'Pack last year.
Key Performer
Elijah Dos Santos / defence / 3rd year / Coquitlam B.C.
One of the few returning players on a new-look WolfPack roster that features 18 new faces, Dos Santos will relied upon as a leader both on and off the field. The talented centre back has formed the spine of a stingy WolfPack defence for the past two seasons and was a key contributor on the 2022 U SPORTS National Championship winning squad. ?
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?Equally as capable at shutting down attackers as he is at starting the attack from the back with pinpoint passing, Dos Santos is set to once again star for a WolfPack squad that is eyeing its seventh-consecutive CW postseason appearance.
Key Additions
Ben Finley / forward / 1st year / Preston, ENG / Salford City FC
Lucas Kirnon / defence / 1st year / Preston, ENG / Salford City FC
Lachlan Will / forward / 1st year / Vancouver, BC / Burnaby FC
By The Numbers
6: TRU was slotted in sixth in the annual Coaches Pre-Season Poll
6: TRU's streak of six consecutive playoff appearances is the second-most in the Pacific Division behind only UBC.
