The Providence Pilots men’s soccer team suffered a tough loss on October 29 to the Université de Saint-Boniface Les Rouges. The final score was 0–4 and head coach Mo Cato says that he shoulders the blame.
“Going into the tournament, I felt as if the team was totally prepared and ready to compete against a team that we had beaten just two weeks earlier,” says Cato. “In retrospect, I don’t think I did a good enough job preparing the boys to play. While the field conditions were not ideal, the other team was able to adjust to the conditions and we did not. That’s also a coaching error. I think the team and the coaching staff learned from the weekend and are hungry and determined more than ever for a second chance at a championship title at Regionals this weekend.”
On November 4, the Pilots will compete in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) North Regional tournament. Providence enters as the number one seed, but their opponent is still to be determined.
In women’s soccer, the Pilots defeated the Brandon University Bobcats 3–0 on October 29. The next day, they fell to Les Rouges 1–4.
Head coach Tory Walker was ultimately happy with how the weekend played out.
“This was a good weekend for us,” Walker says. “As a team, we played fantastic and stuck to our systems. And as a coach, I am proud of how we played. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t get the win against Saint-Boniface, but I was proud of the fact that we didn’t concede a goal in open play. All the goals against us were set pieces, and that is something we can fix and adjust. As I have said all year, this group is eager to learn and grow and I expect that to be the same this week as we prepare for the next chapter in our book: NCCAA North Regionals.”
On November 4, the women’s team will attend the North Regional tournament in pursuit of a trip to the NCCAA Nationals. Providence enters as the top seed and will receive a bye to the semifinals.
Volleyball
The women’s volleyball team started their regular season on October 28 at the Université de Saint-Boniface with a 1–3 loss. Overall the match scores were 9–25, 22–25, 33–31, and 16–25.
Kyle Guenther, the squad’s head coach, had mixed feelings about the game.
“Our season opener against Saint-Boniface didn’t go quite how we drew it up,” says Guenther. “We have had a pretty good preseason overall and have focused on being competitive. Unfortunately, we didn’t start well and couldn’t recover from an 0–2 deficit. We finally saw the type of execution and energy [we needed] towards the third set but couldn’t keep the momentum going into the fourth. I give a lot of credit to Saint-Boniface, as they are a great team and they didn’t allow us to execute our game plan. They kept our block on our heels all night and won the serve and pass battle from start to finish. We will work hard in practice this week and hope to rebound this Friday at our home opener.”
The weekend will include a pair of home-and-away games against the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) Blazers.
Meanwhile, the men’s volleyball team faced Saint-Boniface last weekend and came home with the win. The final score was 3–0 (27–25, 25–22, 25–21).
“After a long and gruelling preseason, the fellas answered the challenges presented by the coaching staff and stuck to the game plan prepared for the weekend and executed at a solid rate,” says coach Cody Quiring. “While there are most definitely areas coming out of weekend one in which we will need to tune up and refine as we continue in the regular season grind, I was pleased with the intentional details the guys translated from practice to the game.”
The men’s volleyball home opener at the CRRC takes place on Friday, November 4 against the CMU Blazers.
“It’s going to be an instant classic,” says Quiring. “Don’t miss it.”
Basketball
Finally, in women’s basketball, the Pilots had a rough weekend against the Valley City State University (VCSU) Vikings. They suffered back-to-back losses in North Dakota with final tallies of 32–89 and 34–93.
“It was a challenging weekend for us,” says coach Joel Coursey. “This is the fourth season that we have travelled down to Valley City. They are two league levels above us, so we knew what we were in for. I was impressed with how we played in the first half of both games. It wasn’t as much a drop in effort in the second half as much as it was our inability to generate turnovers as they got more comfortable with the pace of the game.”
Next weekend, the team will face Valley City again, as well as Mayville State.
“[They] will be hands down the toughest opponents we will see all season, and the way we play isn’t designed for those games,” Coursey adds. “Our hope is to use these games to condition us, toughen us up, and help players dissolve their fear, making them more comfortable in conference play. Our biggest challenge is how we respond to the adversity we will face.”
This coming weekend’s games will conclude Providence’s exhibition contests with opponents from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The team will head back into conference play the following weekend.