Much is expected of the team this season, with recruiting netting a serious step up in talent from last’s year’s reboot, in which the team founded in 2009, returned to the United Soccer League Premier Development League following a hiatus in 2015.
“This is a whole other level,” said head coach Dave Dew, of the roster he has assembled, following a 3-5-6 record in the 2016 season.
That’s where it needs to be because, as Dew points out: “Seventy-five per cent of MLS players have played in the PDL.”
You need good, young talent in order to succeed in the PDL Northwest Division, which features MLS development teams Seattle Sounders U-23 and Portland Timbers U-23.
The two prize Highlanders recruits, striker Andrew Ofosu and midfielder Eva Batousol, arrive from England next week ahead of the 2017 PDL opener May 14 at Centennial Stadium against Lane United of Eugene, Oregon.
Both imports have been eyeballed and come recommended by Jamie Hadfield of Sheffield Wednesday Academy and former Highlanders player Max Wragg, now a Sheffield Wednesday youth coach.
Owen Pearce, meanwhile, was scouted early as a potential pro as part of the Toronto FC Academy and is with the Highlanders this season to try to reignite that quest.
“All these guys are here because they want to get to the next level,” said Dew.
Defender Sho Goto from Japan has already been there and is a 28-year-old former J-League 2 and Latvian league pro, who is studying English at UVic.
“Sho Goto has been the class of training camp so far,” said Dew.
Also showing well is Cape Breton University captain Stuart Heath, a six-foot-one native of Belfast, who led the Capers to third place this past season in U Sports. Dew is hoping for lightning to strike again out of the Atlantic Conference, as when Jamar Dixon came out of St. Francis Xavier University to star for two seasons with the Highlanders before becoming a pro with the Ottawa Fury and earning three caps so far with Canada.
Other U Sports players in 2017 camp include the Canada West trio of Francesco Bartolillo from UNBC, Aidan Moore of Trinity Western and Justin Donaldson from Thompson Rivers.
The biggest home-grown talent is returning 2016 Highlanders MVP Callum Montgomery of Nanaimo, a St. Michaels University School graduate, and six-foot-three back-line standout with NCAA top-16 University of Carolina-Charlotte.
Another Island player to watch this season will be Andre Earthy-Find of Victoria, out of the Vancouver Whitecaps Academy, and headed to the NCAA Pac-12 and the Oregon State Beavers.
“Andre will be hard pressed to start, with the group we have, but he is battling hard in camp to try to do just that,” said Dew.
Returning is the reliable veteran and former pro Blair Sturrock.
Dew pointed to players who move on like Dixon and last season’s Highlanders goalkeeper, Pac-12 Oregon State Beaver Nolan Wirth from the Comox Valley, now in the training camp of USL pro club Phoenix Rising with the likes of former Chelsea star and Ivory Coast international Didier Drogba.
Offering a springboard is what it’s all about in the PDL, noted Dew.
Handling goalkeeping this season will be Reynolds Secondary graduate Simon Norgrove, now in U Sports with the University of Guelph Gryphons, and Japanese student Yuchiro Hayami from Iowa Western University, an all-tournament selection for the conference champion Reivers.
The PDL is a U-23 spring/summer development league that allows eight over-agers per roster.
The opener against Lane United kicks off five consecutive home dates at Centennial Stadium to start the 2017 Highlanders season, including against Sounders U-23 on May 26, Calgary Foothills on June 2 and June 4 and Portland Timbers U-23 on June 18.
The final-week preparations for the May 14 opener against Lane will be highlighted by an exhibition game Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at UVic between the Highlanders PDL squad and the Highlanders development team, which will play in the Pacific Coast Soccer League.
