The Sooke Celtic div-1 men’s soccer team is about to kick off another season in September, and they’re looking for fresh talent.
Player coach Steven Scott said the current team roster is young and strong — ranging in age from 17 to 32 — and they are looking for just a few more pieces of the puzzle to become a strong contender this season.
“We want to get into the B.C.’s, we haven’t been in two years,” said Scott.
The team has been through a few changes recently. Last year involved some rebuilding with new faces on the field, as well as dealing with injuries like left/right midfielder Elton Clemente who was out all year. Scott is hopeful he will return along with a few other key players like centre midfielder Andrew Dawson and defender Josh Jenkins.
“We played pretty good,” said Scott. “I think we’re only going to get better.”
Scott said the main challenge this year is simply to keep the roster stocked.
“We got a lot of guys away on commercial fishing — they can’t train and practice as much as they’d like.”
Tryouts are taking place Mondays and Wednesdays at Journey Middle School at 7 p.m. until the end of August, and he said anyone is welcome. A team will be picked shortly thereafter, and the season starts the first week of September. Of the 18-game regular season schedule, nine home games will be played on Friday nights at 7 p.m. at Fred Milne Park.
“We had a good crowd last year, hopefully we have good crowd support again this year,” said Scott.
Celtic finished fifth place overall last year and hope to fare even better this time around.
“For a small town like us, it’s a huge accomplishment.”
Any questions can be directed to Steven Scott at 250-857-3574 or by email: steven.rcc@shawcable.com.
