SYDNEY, N.S. — Ciera Disipio admits losing in the championship game of the U Sports nationals last November was a difficult pill to swallow for the Cape Breton University women’s soccer team.
Looking back on the season and the heartbreaking defeat, Disipio now believes the experience of playing on the national stage can only help the Capers moving forward.
“We had a lot of young girls come in and play for a gold medal in their first year, which a lot of people don’t get to do in maybe five years,” said the 20-year-old midfielder from Ottawa, Ont.
“Although it sucked that we lost, I think it was a proud moment. Initially it was tough to only come out with a silver, but to come out with a medal at all was a huge win for us, not only for the island, but for the Atlantic University Sport in general.”
At the start of the 2017 season, the Capers, who finished the year first overall with an 11-0-1 record, listed team goals. The first goal was to win an AUS championship, while another goal was to win a medal at the nationals.
“We didn’t identify a colour, we just wanted a medal, so we were able to check off five out of five team goals last year, so that was huge for us,” said Disipio, last year’s AUS MVP, who shares the club’s captain duties with Chantal Caron, Kennedy Currie and Howie Centre’s Becky Hanna.
With the 2018 season approaching, the Capers have put the national tournament loss behind them and are focusing on new team goals and expectations for the soccer program.
The Capers will open the AUS regular season this weekend when they host the New Brunswick Reds on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Cape Breton Health Recreation Complex. The team will also be on the field against the Moncton Aigles Bleus on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Sydney.
Although 12 players from last year’s team are returning, the Cape Breton squad will have a number of new faces in the lineup this, including keeper Haley Kardas and forward/midfielder Erin Freeman, both of whom were members of the 2017 Nova Scotia Canada Games team that won bronze in Winnipeg, Man.
The club lost five starters from last year’s team including starting keeper Lysianne Trottier, Robyn Novorolsky and Alyssa Armstrong. Keona Simmonds and Tamara Brown have also graduated from the program, after scoring a combined 20 goals for the Capers in 2017.
“We have to try to score some goals this year — we have some holes to fill,” said head coach Ness Timmons, who enters his 23rd season with the club.
“We have a chance to retool and get a new team look this season with losing those five players, but we’ve built a culture we want to have around this team and hopefully we can get the rookies to buy into what we’ve established over the years.”
Since 2003, Cape Breton has won nine AUS championships, including four consecutive titles from 2005-2008, with the most recent coming last year.
Along with playing 12 regular season games this season, the Capers will also host the AUS championship, Nov. 1-4, in Sydney.
Despite the key losses to its lineup, Timmons said the team will take things one game at a time.
“The players know it’s a new team and their standards are always high here,” said the New Waterford native, who was named the AUS and U Sports coach of the year in 2017.
“I think it’s 15 years in a row that we’ve been in the final four in the AUS, so if you show up that final weekend and you play strong and the chips go your way, you can win it.
“In soccer, it’s one goal either way and we’ve been favourites and lost by a goal and we’ve been underdogs and won by a goal over the years.”
Disipio, entering her fourth year with the team, considers this year’s club to be a possession team.
“We have a lot of technical players. Our centre-backs can play with the ball, our keepers are good with their feet and our strikers can dribble,” said Disipio, noting the team recently attended a bonding trip in Ingonish to help build team chemistry.
“Most of our players have played in both AUS and U Sports championships, so that’s going to be a huge advantage because we can give the first-year players some advice and we can learn from mistakes we’ve made in the past.”
Although the team would like to get another chance at winning a national championship, Disipio, who considers Cape Breton a second home, doesn’t want the players to get too far ahead of themselves.
“The ultimate goal (right now) would be to win an AUS title on home turf — we haven’t had the greatest history in the past with hosting and winning,” she said. “We just want to play each game as they come and win. If you win each game, you win the AUS and that’s our main focus. We will worry about nationals after that.”
Roster
Cape Breton Capers women’s soccer team:
Rachel Yerxa – Keeper – Mississauga, Ont.
Erin Freeman – Forward/Midfield – Halifax, N.S.
Madison Lavers – Defender – Halifax, N.S.
Amy Lynch – Midfield/Defender – Sydney, N.S.
Chantal Caron – Midfield/Forward – Ottawa, Ont.
Fatou Ndiaye – Defender – Pierrfonds, Que.
Ciera Disipio – Midfield – Ottawa, Ont.
Deshae Darrell – Forward – Sandy’s, Brazil
Amelia Carlini – Midfield – Ottawa, Ont.
Mackenna King – Forward/Midfield – Barrie, Ont.
Madison Goodliffe – Forward/Midfield – Mississauga, Ont.
Maddy Johnson – Midfield/Defender – Barrie, Ont.
Reyhana Jean-Baptiste – Forward – Montreal, Que.
Chelsea Foote – Forward – Halifax, N.S.
Kennedy Curry – Defender – Coldbrook, N.S.
Rebecca Lambke – Midfield – Antigonish, N.S.
Becky Hanna – Defender – Howie Centre, N.S.
Rachel Leck – Forward/Midfield – Pickering, Ont.
Haley Kardas – Keeper – Halifax, N.S.
Head Coach: Ness Timmons – New Waterford, N.S.
Assistant Coach: Robert White – New Waterford, N.S.
Assistant Coach: Chad Power – North Sydney, N.S.
Communications: Shaun Ranni – Sydney, N.S.
2018 Schedule
Sept. 8 – 1 p.m. - vs. New Brunswick Reds
Sept. 9 – 1 p.m. – vs. Moncton Aigles Bleus
Sept. 14 – 5 p.m. - @ St. Francis Xavier X-Women
Sept. 16 – 1 p.m. - @ Prince Edward Island Panthers
Sept. 22 – 3 p.m. – vs. Prince Edward Island Panthers
Sept. 29 – 12:30 p.m. - @ Memorial Seahawks
Sept. 30 – 12:30 p.m. - @ Memorial Seahawks
Oct. 12 – 5 p.m. – vs. Saint Mary’s Huskies
Oct. 14 – 1 p.m. – vs. Dalhousie Tigers
Oct. 19 – 5 p.m. – vs. St. Francis Xavier X-Women
Oct. 21 – 1 p.m. - @ Mount Allison Mounties
Oct. 26 – 5 p.m. - @ Acadia Axewomen
Twitter: @CBPost_Jeremy
