University of Victoria Vikes soccer coach Larry Stefanek wants his players to get a taste of the pro pace and they will get just that when they meet Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League in a friendly Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Stadium.
“Our guy are excited, actually more like fired up, to get this kind of experience against a professional club,” said Stefanek.
“The game is quicker at the next level and I want our players to experience that speed of play first hand.”
PFC defeated the Vikes 3-0 in last year’s game in what has become an annual fixture.
There is a pathway to the pros for university players through the annual CPL/U Sports draft, which allows U Sports players to make CPL rosters over the summer months without losing their university eligibility for the upcoming September.
The value of the draft was proven when PFC’s 2023 first-round selection, defender Eric Lajeunesse from the UBC Thunderbirds, made six promising CPL appearances for the Tridents last season before returning to the T-Birds in the fall and being named to the U Sports national first all-star team. PFC has protected Lajeunesse for 2024 and he is currently in the Tridents’ training camp.
“Eric played valuable minutes for us,” PFC head coach James Merriman has said.
PFC also had previous luck with a U Sports player when former University of Toronto Varsity Blues defender Lukas MacNaughton, currently of Nashville SC of MLS, became an impact player for PFC enroute to being capped and part of Canada’s final pre-camp before the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
“You just have to look at Eric, Lukas and Joel Waterman [Canada-capped and with CF Montreal in MLS after playing in the CPL with Cavalry FC following his career at Trinity Western University] to see the value of players coming out of U Sports,” Merriman told the Times Colonist.
PFC this year selected Varsity Blues forward Michael Maslanka sixth overall in the first round of the 2024 CPL/U Sports draft and defender Ibrahem Saadi from the University of Western Ontario Mustangs 12th overall in the second round.
“To see the draft working and seeing U Sports players gaining CPL experience is awesome and shows how soccer is growing in our country,” said Stefanek.
UVic was 10-4-2 in Canada West and 11-5-2 overall in the fall season. The Vikes are preparing to host next weekend’s Keg Spring Classic and are returning from last weekend’s 2-0 losses to both the University of Washington Huskies and Seattle University, the latter which has been ranked in the NCAA Div. 1 top-10 this season.
PFC is preparing for its CPL opening game April 13 at Starlight Stadium against the HFX Wanderers of Halifax.
The Tridents announced Thursday the signing of 26-year-old attacking-midfielder Andrei Tircovea, making his first foray out of his home country after a pro career in which he has won the Romanian Super Cup, Romanian Cup and Romanian League Cup. He represented Romania in U-16 and U-17 international competitions.
“Andrei has a high technical pedigree and has played more than 140 games at the highest levels in Romania,” noted Merriman, in a statement.
“He has won promotions and championships and brings his ambition to a new challenge with us here at Pacific.”
