'Caps set for new W-League season

May 14, 2009

By Alan Douglas/whitecapsfc.com

Vancouver Whitecaps FC women open their 2009 United Soccer Leagues (USL) W-League campaign at home to rivals Seattle Sounders, the team that knocked them out of last year's playoffs.

A new season brings changes, and the biggest change this year has come at the top, with the appointment of new head coach Alan Koch. A former South African youth international, Koch was a star striker at Simon Fraser University in the 1990’s and since then, has been coaching at SFU and at various US colleges. He is currently the head coach of the SFU men's side. Though this is Koch's first experience coaching a top women's team, he has not found the transition to be a problem, saying, "when you're dealing with elite athletes, the jump is not as big as it would be at other levels; the players' mentality is very professional."

Koch inherits a team that is coming off a difficult 2008 campaign, in which 39 different players took to the pitch over the course of the season. Having a much more settled line-up will be to his advantage. To that end, he has assembled a promising mix of youth and experience, with an emphasis on local talent, including many of Canada's brightest up-and-coming players.

On the side of experience, Koch has the benefit of veteran Canadian international Randee Hermus, who will act as both player and assistant coach. Other key veterans include goalkeeper Sian Bagshawe, and midfielders Rosalyn Hicks and Ashley McGhee. The club is also pleased to welcome back talented Canadian international Katie Thorlakson - who last played for the club back in 2005 - as well as defender Gillian Hicks, an original member of the team whose last season was back in 2003. Both players had their Whitecaps careers interrupted by serious injury, but fans will be pleased to see them back on the pitch this season.

Other key returning players include a trio of Canadian internationals in Jodi-Ann Robinson, Sophie Schmidt and Amy Vermeulen. Schmidt and Robinson both started with the club when they were 16, and while still only 20, are two of the more experienced members of the squad. Over a half-dozen players from Canada's U-20 team in 2008 will also be back this season, including star midfielders Paige Adams, Monica Lam-Feist, and Chelsea Stewart. Player development is, of course, a Whitecaps hallmark and three youngsters will be stepping up from last year's Whitecaps Prospects team: fast and powerful strikers Chelsea Buckland and Nikki Wright, and standout defender Brienna Shaw.

Additional new signings include Langley, BC, native Kim McMullen, who played last season for the W-League's Hampton Roads Piranhas, and American striker Betty Ann Casey, a former star with the powerful New Jersey Wildcats, and who last year, was second leading goalscorer in the Women's Premier Soccer League with Miami Kickers.

Bringing all these players together on short order, with many just now returning from college, has been a challenge for coach Koch, who admitted, "it's been a hectic last few weeks leading up to the start of the season - assembling the team and getting ourselves ready. However, we are ready for an exciting season and excited about the challenge."

Koch's chief objective for his first season will be to make the playoffs in an increasingly competitive W-League Western Conference. Defending league champions Pali Blues out of Los Angeles, California, are the team to beat, along with the rivals Seattle, but none of the other teams can be discounted. "The good thing about playing Seattle first is that we'll have a good idea where we are at," said Koch, "at the end of the game, we'll know where we stand and what we have to do for the rest of the season."

The Whitecaps women kick off their 2009 USL W-League season on Saturday, May 16, versus Seattle Sounders women. For information on tickets, please call 604.669.WAVE (9283) or click here.

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