Ireson strikes in BU debut

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This article was published 12/09/2021 (1581 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kira Ireson knows how to make a first impression.

It’s about doing the little things right, like pouncing on a rebound to score the Brandon University Bobcats first goal of the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference season on Saturday. Ireson crashed the penalty area from her starting left wing spot when Kiyanna Arevalo blasted a shot off Assiniboine Community College goalkeeper Tess Omeljanow. A second later it was in the back of the net and the Bobcats were off and running with a 4-0 victory at the Sportsplex.

“It was really exciting. The energy from there just went up,” said the Markham, Ont., product.

“(My confidence) boosted. Honestly, it’s not just me but the rest of my teammates having my back and really bringing up the energy is the best part of it. Scoring that goal, everybody coming in for the first league goal is crazy.”

Ireson caught Bobcats head coach Jesse Roziere’s attention in October at a TOPP Soccer showcase. The bench boss reached out and the two realized they found the perfect fit. Roziere was rebuilding a roster and Ireson wanted a smaller university with a bio-medical science program. She played at FC Durham Academy with fellow rookie Deja Newell, who was recruited for last season but didn’t come due to COVID-19.

Ireson, 18, quickly felt at home with the young group.

“It was wild, just getting into practice right away. Jesse and his training is so hard and focused, just really having that mentality that ‘We have to do this, we have to be going to nationals at the end of this season,’ is awesome,” Ireson said. “… I really like it here.”

Ireson played on both wings Saturday and Roziere likes what he sees.

“She’s done well and really had her days. What we’re talking to the group about is consistency. Girls are trying different spots and moving them around,” Roziere said.

“To be fair to them, they’ve done well in a few different spots each. Kira’s finding her own and really letting her personality come out in the group now and she’s been an absolute pleasure to see every day.”

While the opener wasn’t perfect, all first-year starting 11 provided a few more flashes of brilliance.

Kylie Van De Woestyne saw a golden opportunity to leave her left-back spot and step into the attack, chipping Omeljanow from 36 yards out to double the lead in the 36th minute.

The Weyburn, Sask., native struck again, this time from 40 yards with a perfect lob in the 71st minute.

Then with seven minutes to play, Kenadie Janzen joined in on the fun, picking the top-right corner from just outside the penalty area to round out the scoring. The Saskatoon product was all over the Cougars back line all afternoon and finally saw her efforts rewarded.

“It was a relief. The beginning of the game was a little frustrating because I couldn’t find a way through or couldn’t get under the ball to actually find a spot at the net, rather than just striking it right at the goalie. It was a big relief to finally find the top corner,” Janzen said.

“I wish it would have happened earlier but I’m happy that it did. Heading into our game against CMU (Sunday) it builds a little more confidence even though the score probably should have been higher than it was.”

Goalkeeper Trinity Nylen kept the sheet clean with help from a quality back four. Ireson was quick to credit them for the win.

“A lot of our D there was really good playing those long balls, and overall a lot of our plays went out from the back and into our midfield. That’s actually how our first goal happened with Kylie and me clicking so that was really nice. They played well today,” Ireson said.

ACC co-coach Gerry Rocan was impressed by Brandon’s rookie crop, including German import Helen Langrehr.

“BU’s going to definitely be the team to beat this year. The coach of the BU team and BU itself does a lot of recruiting overseas and across Canada, where we stay local and use local players. It kind of showed (Saturday). If you got players that are as skilled as they are, it’s very hard to stay even with them,” Rocan said.

“We just needed to be able to put some pressure on their end too and we weren’t able to do that, so something we have to work on for the next time around.”

On Sunday, Ireson scored twice with Langrehr, Van De Woestyne, Janzen, Bien van Berkel and Brogan Henry adding singles in a 7-1 victory over the host Canadian Mennonite University Blazers. Arevalo collected the clean sheet.

The Cougars fell 6-0 to St. Boniface.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen