Teams gear up for MCAC futsal season

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This article was published 15/01/2025 (329 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon University Bobcats were one goal shy of a championship sweep last futsal season. Now they’ve given themselves another shot.

After a second-consecutive 2-1 win in the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference women’s soccer final, the Bobcats return to the futsal court in Niverville on Saturday to avenge last year’s 5-4 loss to the St. Boniface Les Rouges.

According to coach Diego Rodriguez Sr., they won’t be passive in their approach.

“My team’s always going forward, always in attack,” Rodriguez said.

“At the same time, we try to be humble when we play, don’t try to be cocky, just do their job, whatever we’re practising.”

The opener kicks off at 2:30 p.m., while BU’s second game of the first of four match days is against the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers at 6 o’clock.

Each of the five teams plays twice each day, meaning depth is typically a major key to success.

Rodriguez feels he has that in abundance. The second-year head coach said it’s hard to tell who will emerge as his key players, with 16 available to start the year.

The game tends to favour quicker, shiftier athletes like a central midfielder, compared to more defensive-minded outdoor soccer players. So look for veterans like Kenadie Janzen, Ashley Robinson and Brogan Henry to get Brandon’s high-octane offence rolling early.

But don’t call them “midfielders” or “strikers” around Rodriguez.

“It’s no defenders, midfield, it’s not. You need your players moving around,” he said. “You can start in the backline and suddenly you’re in front scoring. This is a fast game so you need to keep moving.”

The Bobcats get a nice boost in Neepawa product Pia Bokingkito, who impressed as a rookie in 2023-24 but didn’t play the 2024 outdoor season.

COUGARS TOP-END TALENT IS STRONG

There weren’t a ton of highlights in the Assiniboine College Cougars women’s soccer season, but it wasn’t for a lack of skill in the team’s core.

Now that they move from 11 players to five in action at any given moment, the gap between them and the top teams shrinks, as does the physical space to play in, since the court is smaller than the outdoor pitch’s penalty area.

For rookie coach Manuel Luben, that’s the biggest thing to adjust to.

“Since it’s a reduced space, the defensive awareness is difficult here. It’s a fast-paced game so they have to be aware if they have players behind them or around them,” Luben said.

The Cougars earned a big win over Les Rouges during the outdoor season as newcomers Kiyanna Arevalo and Angela Fetsch emerged as stars Luben feels will only shine brighter on the court.

“Kiyanna, she’s going to do great here. She’s fast, has good acceleration, good at dribbling, same with Angela … Great footwork,” Luben said.

Around them, Megan Beswitherick, Katie Avison and Kiera Griffin will likely log big minutes as Assiniboine opens the regular season against CMU on Saturday at 12:45 p.m., and continues against Providence at 4:15 p.m.

With a shorter bench than most, Luben knows his key players will need to be ready for some big jobs.

“We’ve been working on that a lot, especially on our stamina. I want our players if they’re attacking but we don’t have the ball, they have to run back and defend,” Luben said.

“The other coaches are aware this year AC has a strong team. I have six, seven players who were playing in the outdoor season that will do great here.”

BOBCAT MEN ADJUST TO CHANGE

It’s tough to say what the BU men’s lineup will look like this year.

In their first futsal season under coach Segun Edward, a whole lot has changed.

“We’re playing completely different lines … so it’s going to be different to adapt to that,” said third-year Julien Dizengremel, who has been a late bloomer but suddenly a vital piece of the Bobcats offence this year.

“I gained confidence over the last three years so I’m pretty confident in my game. Second year playing futsal but we have a good team, different coaching style, we’ll see how it goes.”

A few veterans are out, including Brazilian Victor Andrade and Morden native Zach Wood.

Dizengremel said the team captains, Victor Lamb and Matheus Ruffini, will be pivotal in keeping the team together and leading the way offensively.

At the back, keeper Matheus Souza will miss at least the opening weekend home in Brazil, so it’s Zsombor Deak’s job to keep USB quiet on Saturday at 12:45 p.m., then CMU at 4:15 p.m.

“He’s a very good keeper, very good teammate to have around and he’s gotten a lot better in the past few years. You feel really confident to have him in net when you’re on the court,” Dizengremel said.

The Bobcats fell to the Blazers 4-3 in last year’s semifinals, before Les Rouges captured the title at the Healthy Living Centre.

This year, a few regular season games and the championship weekend are at Assiniboine, the smallest court in the league. However, the guys aren’t worried about their style changing too much.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect us too much,” Dizengremel said. “In futsal, you play in very tight gaps and it’s a very fast-paced game. If we have to adapt, we’ll adapt but I think we’ll figure it out.”

COUGARS ADAPT WITHOUT MVP

Last year’s MCAC men’s futsal MVP Theo Manias is done at AC, leaving a massive gap for coach Chris McLachlan to fill.

How?

“With depth,” he said. “We have quite a few good returning players from last year and this year we have the ability to have a solid second unit as well. Even when we had Theo, we were forced to rely heavily on our top five or six guys … to play so many minutes.

“This year, we’re excited that we have a roster of 13 or 14 really good players. While there’s probably no Theo in there, I think we can make up for it by having that much more energy.”

The Cougars still have star keeper Gerardo Alas and veteran Paulo Pinto to lead the group. McLachlan noted Ukrainians Vadym Kochenko and Danylo Denysevych, who walked on just a year ago, have emerged as vocal leaders as well.

AC opens against host CMU on Saturday at 11 a.m., then faces Providence at 2:30 p.m.

The last two weekends of the regular season might both be at Assiniboine for the men, meaning home-court advantage could loom large.

“We got to get points in some of these first four games, then the last four games being at AC, we feel really comfortable in that gym, we’ve had success in that gym in the past,” McLachlan said.

“It’s anyone’s to win. The teams are going to be close, they’re all going to have lots of good players but with only five guys on the floor it’s kind of like anything can happen.”

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