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Snow still stymies sports schedulers

Soccer and rugby games cancelled and postponed due to weather
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The Sherman Road turf doesn’t look like it will be hosting soccer games any time soon. (Kevin Rothbauer/Citizen)

Ice and snow made soccer and rugby impossible for a second consecutive week, and some teams and leagues are still trying to figure out where they stand.

Cowichan LMG has four league games left to play, with the Jackson Cup tournament also set to begin. The new schedule released earlier this week now has the team playing Westcastle United twice this weekend — at Finlayson Turf on Saturday and a “home” game at Westhills Stadium on Sunday night. Cup games could start as early as the middle of next week.

“We are in a state of flux,” LMG goalkeeper Darian Achurch said. “We have been told that we will almost definitely be playing two games a week and, again based on weather, they may be trying to have us play two this weekend. Nothing set in stone though, and it doesn’t seem like our Cowichan fields are opening up anytime soon.”

Achurch is also the head coach of the Cowichan Cougars women’s over-30 A team, which is supposed to open Stephanie Shergold Cup play against Gorge United on Sunday.

“We have asked Gorge if we are still on for Sunday and they gave us a ‘wait and see’ response,” Achurch said. “It all kind of hinges on Friday, as it seems there is a chance of snow there. We still do have one more league game to make up but with the way things are going I am almost sure that it will be scrapped.”

Cowichan’s Div. 2 women’s team is also scheduled to open Shergold Cup play on Sunday against Lakehill Reds, and also has league games left to make up.

“Last weekend was supposed to be our last regular-season game, with cup play starting on Sunday; however, with the snow things have been thrown for quite a loop,” Div. 2 coach Darbi Aitchison explained. “We’re scheduled to play in Victoria this weekend for the first round of cup but there aren’t any fields open, so we are very weather dependent at the moment.”

The only Cowichan team that is scheduled to play at home this weekend is Cowichan Red Arrow, which has a J.V. Barnes Cup game set for the snow-covered Sherman Road turf on Saturday afternoon.

“If we can get a field we play the cup game as scheduled,” coach Will Chaster said.

Red Arrow has one league game scheduled for early March, and two others that are currently listed as cancelled but could still be made up.

“Clear as ditch water, right?” Chaster said.

Also scheduled to play on the road this weekend are the masters Cowichan 49ers and Steelheads in the Tony Grover Cup tournament, and U21 Cowichan United in the George Smith Cup.

The B.C. Rugby Union cancelled all games last week, including two matches at the Cowichan Rugby Football Club that had already been rescheduled once. Both the senior men’s and women’s teams are scheduled to play road games this weekend.