Women's soccer V-Reds moving in right direction

After a tie and a loss on the road last weekend to the Memorial University Sea-Hawks in St. John's, NL, University of New Brunswick women's soccer head coach Andy Cameron says his team is moving in the right direction.

"We have 11 first-year players on the roster, so this was their first experience in the AUS," he said. "After the weekend they know what we were talking about in preseason preparations and will be able to build on that as the season progresses."

The Varsity Reds will take on Saint Mary's Saturday and Dalhousie on Sunday with both games at 1 p.m. They will be played at BMO Centre, formerly Chapman Field. BMO Centre will have the grand opening prior to the Saturday women's game. The UNB men will play SMU and Dal at 3:15 p.m. each day.

"I think it's a tremendous addition to the program and adds UNB to the national exposure that BMO has with soccer. It's just a perfect partnership," said Cameron on BMO's support of UNB soccer.

This weekend both men's and women's soccer coaches will "Go Shoeless" for the matches in support of Right to Play.

"One of my players, Heather Ambery, initiated this program and as part of it she has organized some activities around the event this weekend," said Cameron. "Part of that will be the coaches going shoeless."

Ambery worked with the CIS as an intern over the summer where the idea of "Go Shoeless" came from. She brought it back and asked Cameron and UNB men's soccer head coach Miles Pinsent if they would take part. Both agreed and with the help of Melissa Foster they have more planned for the weekend than the coaches going shoeless.

"CIS wanted to work with Right to Play on this project," Foster said. "People were skeptical about this idea because they thought it involved players going shoeless, but it is the coaches. There are approximately 30 universities that have committed. The goal is to raise awareness of kids who don't have proper sporting equipment or don't have safe conditions to play in."

Foster says they will also have a shoe check for fans.

"We're going to have a shoe check where spectators can come and go barefoot as well," said Foster. "We're also going to have 50/50s and a gift basket to sell ballots on. We're also going to play games at halftime with students and kids, (games) which are used by Right to Play when they travel to underprivileged countries to show what this foundation does for kids."

On the field, Cameron wants his players to take lessons from their first AUS action last weekend and build on them.

"They came home with only one of a possible six points, which was disappointing," he said. "The positive part was that they were frustrated in a good way. We've talked about that level of frustration and talked about Dal and SMU this weekend. We continue to train and get better week-by-week and there's excitement to play our first home games."

He says the mental aspect is just as vital for his rookies as being physically ready for the AUS.

"It is vital aspect to any competition," he said, "and we have Ryan Hamilton, who's a sports psychologist, working with our team this year. He's having a couple sessions this week with different players. He's looking at coping skills and dealing with the expectations and the pressures that the first years will be wrestling with.

"Part of our strategy has been dealing with that and I think we have it in hand."

Cameron will rely on his backbone on the field in Sam Legacy up front, Ambery who plays in the middle and Elise Arseneau at the back.

"We have our veteran core up the middle," Cameron said, "and those three players will certainly be counted on for leadership both on and off the field."

He also saw some standout athletes in their first weekend of play.

"We have a bit more pace on the wings this year with Brianna Ford on the left side and Maggie Spencer on the right side." The weekend will get underway at 11 a.m. Saturday with an alumni game, followed by opening ceremonies and the BMO Centre grand opening at 12:55 p.m.