Nature has thrown a monkey wrench into the schedules of outdoor sports, with soccer being hit particularly hard.
“I wouldn’t want to be the [Vancouver Island Soccer League] scheduler right now,” Cowichan LMG head coach Glen Martin said on Monday. “It’s not looking good.”
The snowfall that hit the Cowichan Valley and Vancouver Island starting late last week has set the Div. 1 schedule back about four weeks, Martin noted. Martin’s team already had two games to make up that were postponed earlier in the year. Last Friday’s home game was added to that list, and it seems certain that there won’t be any soccer this coming weekend, either.
Jackson Cup play-in games are supposed to take place this coming weekend, with the first round taking place on Feb. 22-24, but those games are unlikely to happen as scheduled.
With a series of strong games, LMG had climbed into first place in the Div. 1 standings in recent weeks, so Martin was disappointed his team had to sit last weekend out.
“The only sad part of it is we had the momentum going our way,” he said. “It was win, win, win after the break and we vaulted into first place.”
All VISL games last weekend were snowed out, including games for Div. 4 Cowichan Red Arrow, and the masters Cowichan 49ers and Steelheads. Only U21 Cowichan United was scheduled to have the weekend off. Of the two Lower Island Women’s Soccer Association teams, the over-30A Cowichan Cougars had last weekend and this coming weekend off, while the Div. 2 team had their home game last Friday postponed.
Most of the teams were scheduled to play this coming weekend, but conditions aren’t promising for that, either.
Senior men’s and women’s games at the Cowichan Rugby Football Club’s pitch on Herd Road were also cancelled last Saturday along with all other B.C. Rugby Union matches last weekend. The Cowichan games have been tentatively rescheduled for this coming Saturday.