The old adage, making hay while the sun shines, fits the bill for Steve Simonson’s Victoria Highlanders FC team.
The local side — which competes in the Professional Development League of United Soccer Leagues — begins the first of five straight home games today when it entertains the Seattle Sounders’ FC U-23 team at 1 p.m. at Royal Athletic Park.
Home for six of their first seven outings overall, Highlanders coach Simonson would love nothing more than to stockpile victories, like haystacks in a glistening field.
With a 2-0 start to the season (one win at home and one away), the Highlanders are off to a secure beginning, but it can become that much more special with positive results in front of home crowds.
“Obviously with the scheduling situation at RAP, it’s nice to get the early win in and then get the one on the road and experience that,” said Simonson, referring to respective 3-0 and 3-2 victories over Kitsap and the Vancouver Whitecaps U-23, the latter came Friday on the mainland.
“Hopefully, now, we can get a good stretch of games at home. The toughest, I think, will be [today] against the Sounders, which is going to be a good side.
“There are a couple of these homes games that we would expect to win and a couple we hope to win. The Sounders, having lost to Portland on Thursday, will be ornery coming in here,” added Simonson.
The Highlanders — who find themselves at the top of the Northwest Division — will want to establish themselves early in the contest.
“I think we did that against Kitsap [a 3-0 win two weekends ago]. There were a few hiccups along the way, and then scoring three goals against the Whitecaps, at their home, proves we can score goals,” said Simonson.
Today’s matchup comes against a strong Sounders’ FC team that finished 11-3-2 last season and is expected to compete near the top of the Northwest again this season. To date, the Sounders are 0-1 after the 2-0 loss to the Portland Timbers’ U-23 team on Thursday.
Both Victoria and the Sounders are playing with very little recovery time.
“I might make a couple of changes, tactically, for this game, although I am going in a little bit blind against Seattle, just getting the research from where I can,” said Simonson, who received two goals from Jordie Hughes and another from Riley O’Neill on Friday.
“It was a good effort from the guys. Some, in particular, put in massive shifts so I’m a bit worried about their legs going into this game. But we have a lot of depth on the team this year and I’m really excited about seeing the use of the bench.
“Especially against this level of competition. The day off Saturday is a good thing because it will take its toll. That’s why we have the depth that we do. So I expect the starting 11 to be slightly different than the team we fielded [Friday] night.”
CORNER KICKS: The Sounders feature newly signed goalkeeper Earl Edwards from UCLA who was a member of the United States U-20 team in the CONCACAF Championship tournament. The Highlanders will next face North Sound at RAP on Saturday at 7 p.m. ... The Peninsula Co-op Highlanders women’s team travels to Vancouver to face the Whitecaps in Pacific Coast League play on Monday at 3 p.m. at Simon Fraser University.
