It’s said that the only thing harder than winning a championship is defending it, and by that standard, what the UFV golf teams accomplished on Sunday was extremely impressive.
At the conclusion of the final tournament of the PacWest conference golf season — hosted by UBC Okanagan in Kelowna — the Cascades men’s and women’s teams both found themselves atop the cumulative rankings.
It’s the second straight year that both UFV teams have won provincial gold, and the men’s streak of PacWest titles is now at three seasons and counting.
“It means a lot, because it seems to get harder and harder every year,” said UFV golf coach Chris Bertram, who was voted PacWest coach of the year for the fourth time in five seasons. “The competition in our conference is so good, but we keep getting better every year and we fight tooth and nail to get it done.”
UFV’s Jen Woods won the women’s individual championship with a cumulative total of 642 strokes, while teammates Kelley Dalzell (660) and Natasha MacKenzie (675) finished third and fourth overall, respectively.
On the men’s side, the Cascades placed three players in the top five overall. Connor O’Dell (586) was second, Zach Olson (588) was third, and Aaron Pauls took fifth (590).
Men’s hoopsters win three
The Cascades men’s basketball team went undefeated in a trio of weekend exhibition games.
They started in dominant fashion on Friday, demolishing the Kwantlen Eagles — a PacWest program — by a score of 111-68 at Tamanawis Secondary in Surrey behind 18 points from Nate Brown.
On Saturday, at the Envision Athletic Centre’s North Gym, they beat the Seattle Mountaineers 87-80. Kevon Parchment led a balanced attack with 17 points, while Brown (16), Kadeem Willis (14) and Jasper Moedt (12) also scored in double figures.
On Sunday the Cascades faced another PacWest squad, the Vancouver Island University Mariners, and won 88-70 behind big games from Parchment (25 points, nine rebounds) and Brown (19 points, eight rebounds).
Looking ahead to a soccer/golf/basketball weekend
The UFV soccer teams, coming off a bye, return to action this week.
On Fri, Oct 10 they hit the road to face the UBC Thunderbirds (women 5 pm, men 7:30 pm). On Sat, Oct 11, they return to their home pitch at Abbotsford Senior Secondary for their final home games of the regular season, taking on the UVic Vikes (women 5 pm, men 7:30 pm).
The men’s game vs. UVic will feature a pregame ceremony to honour the program’s five graduating seniors — goalkeeper Mark Village, defenders Ravi Singh and Trevor O’Neill, midfielder Ryan Liddiard, and forward Juan Pablo Mora Perea.
The men’s basketball team has its first preseason game against a CIS foe — they travel to Surrey’s Semiahmoo Secondary this Thursday to take on the Trinity Western Spartans. Tip-off is at 7 pm.
Up next for the Cascades golf teams are the PING CCAA Golf national championships, which run Oct. 14-17 in Quebec City. UFV is the defending champion on both the men’s and women’s sides.