VIU Mariners Off-Season Forecast

Following a dominating regular season in 2019 the VIU Mariners men’s soccer team (8-2-2) entered the PACWEST championship tournament as the top seed and had a bye into the gold medal game. However their offence stumbled and they fell 1-0 to the Douglas Royals ending their season. Little did they know that would be the last game they would play until this September.

The returning players in 2021 will have an added chip on their shoulder looking to duplicate the last regular season and finishing the job in the playoffs.

The Mariners open the regular season on September 18th when they visit the Capilano Blues.

What’s New with the Mariners:

The Mariners have added some new young faces to their veteran group heading into the new campaign. These first year student athletes will have a distinct advantage of learning from some outstanding leaders like Shun Takano, Cole Senchar and Taylor Arbour. The Mariners will also have a new home turf this season playing their games at Beban Park at Merle Logan Field in Nanaimo.

Key Grads:

Griffin Douglas – the local product played two seasons for the Mariners and leaves a hole at the midfield position.

Reid Davidson – as a defenceman in 2019 Davidson played two seasons at VIU and will be missed in the backend.

Travis Brown – another midfielder leaves following his second season with the Mariners. He did score once in the seven games he played.

Entering Final Season:

Shun Takano – he’s been such an important part of the Mariners offensive attack in the last four years. In 2019 he scored five goals in the 10 games he played and will be looking for more in his final season.

Taylor Arbour – entering his fifth year the Campbell River native wants to be on the field. In 2019 he only played in six of the Mariners 12 games which included a suspension. When on the pitch he’s dangerous scoring twice in 2019.

Cole Senchar – he’ll be expected to play a major role on the Mariners defence entering his fifth season after the loss of two key grads. At 6’6 he plays a very tough game and the opposition finds difficult to maneuver around him.

What They Needed:

The Mariners had a couple of key positions to fill prior to this season and head coach Larry Stefanek believes he has the right players now in place at central midfield and in goal.

Counting On:

Ben Chamberlin – he’s expected to be the new keeper for the Mariners after spending some time south of the border including a stop at Hope International University in Fullerton California. He’s from Courtenay BC originally.

Matthew Coburn – he’s a local product that will be asked to play shutdown defence this season entering his third campaign. At 6’3 he’s another big body in the backend on the Mariners roster.

Michael Heppelle – he was rookie in 2019 from Japan and was a threat when he was on the pitch. He played in just seven games and scored four times. He not only can score goals, but prevent them as well. In 2019 he played in goal for three games allowing just three goals, recording a shutout against the Douglas Royals.

The Mariners will start on the road in 2021 but will host their home opener on September 19th when they welcome the Langara Falcons.