Surovy, Knox recognized by Bobcats as athletes of the month

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This article was published 05/10/2017 (3103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kirstin Surovy has adjusted nicely to her new position with the Brandon University Bobcats women’s soccer team. Mike Knox has enjoyed his time back on the pitch with the BU men’s squad after years away from the collegiate game.

On Wednesday, the pair were named Brandon’s athletes of the month for September.

The five-foot-seven Surovy moved from midfield to occupy a role as one of the Bobcats’ two central defenders after Amy Kingdon, a Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference all-star from a season ago, suffered a torn ACL in the summer.

Surovy credits Jade Barrault, the other central defender, for helping her become a defensive stalwart for BU.

“There’s been a lot of help from the rest of the team, but definitely Jade has really helped coach me and learn where the position is,” Surovy said. “Amy and I are also good friends so having her support as well as the rest of the team back me up is why the position is working as well as it is.”

“At times there’s a little more pressure and you’re the last line (of defence),” the 20-year-old Minnedosa product continued. “You stay in a defensive mind throughout the whole game so that was an adjustment that you don’t get to run up with the ball that often or as quickly. It’s a different kind of excitement being in the back.”

Head coach Rainer Schira has been pleased by the efforts of his sophomore player.

“Central defenders don’t get a lot of glory, but they are part of the backbone of a team,” Schira said. “This year Kirstin is a starting player and has played almost every minute of our season. All three coaches agree that she has really stepped forward in skill, fitness and tactical understanding.”

Knox already knew the tactics associated with being a midfielder, but the Toronto product, who had spent the past few years teaching in Norway House, has had to adjust to a new system with BU.

The 31-year-old has also been a vocal leader on a young Bobcats team, something he wasn’t as much of from 2004 to 2007 during his NCAA Division II playing days in West Virginia with the Davis & Elkins College Senators.

“When I played before I was never really a very vocal guy,” Knox said. “There was always other guys who were older than me who had more knowledge and experience of the game who were our captains, but in the time that I’ve been coaching while I was teaching I had to be more vocal as a teacher and as a coach, so that has kind of helped me.

“When (head coach) Jesse (Roziere) and I spoke before the season started about my expectations and my role I always said that I would do whatever I could to help the team so that meant talking to the guys on a regular basis about how to approach being a member of a university team. I will try to do that as much as I can.”

Knox is also having a blast playing in the MCAC, that includes scoring a couple of goals in helping BU post a 2-3-1 record.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “Just being able to get on the field every day it brings back a lot of good memories. This is probably the one thing that I miss the most from when I was playing before is being around the guys and being around the game on a daily basis and trying to get better every day.”

With only four games left to play, Knox knows BU has to finish the season strong if it hopes to qualify for the playoffs a year after barely missing out.

Brandon, which sits third in the standings, hosts the Assiniboine Community College Cougars on

Oct. 14 and travels to Winnipeg to play the Canadian Mennonite University Blazers the following day. The Bobcats also welcome the Red River College Rebels to HLC Field and visit the Saint-Boniface Les Rouges to close out the regular season on Oct. 21 and 22.

“We’ve got to try to cut out some of the mistakes that we’ve been making. In all of our losses it’s fair to say that we didn’t play our best game,” Knox noted. “It’s important to fire on all cylinders as much as we can. … There’s always things that we can do better individually and collectively to help us get some more wins on the board.”

The BU women sport a 4-2-0 record, which is second behind CMU, but head into their bye weekend on a two-game losing streak.

Surovy hopes a few good practices will get the defending champion Bobcats ready for the stretch run.

“I think we are going to work really hard at practice this week and take some time to relax and then I think coming back next week we will practise hard again,” she said. “We just need to tighten up on passing and communicating.

“We all really want to win again and see the team do well so I think it’s about getting back into the rhythm that we had at the beginning of the season.”

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