Mark Oxer knew it would be a tough job recruiting for the Olds College soccer program heading into their first year in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference outdoor season.
“Recruiting is tough getting someone when you have a unknown program,” he said. “Most people want to play for someone with a winning history.”
However, Oxer, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams, had a good sales pitch.
“I told them that this is a good opportunity for them to build a winning history,” he explained. “I told them they have an opportunity to score the first goal for Olds and make history for the college. It showed today that we did get some quality players.”
The Broncos dropped a 2-1 decision to the RDC Kings Sunday afternoon at RDC.
Oxer joined Olds last January and coached in the Futsal program.
“The program started with Futsal in the ACAL (Alberta Colleges Athletic League), then moved up to the ACAC in Futsal and from there moved to the outdoor league as well,” he explained.
Oxer has coached both men and women in the past and realizes it’s tougher to recruit women.
“Especially with it being a first years program and agriculture school,” he said. “But we have a good base and something to build on.”
The Olds women had only 12 players in an 8-0 loss to RDC Sunday.
“We have some injuries and some personal issues, but we have a couple of girls joining us this week,” Oxer explained.
Both Olds teams have a 1-3 record, having defeated Lethbridge on the road after losing to Medicine Hat in their home openers.
“It was nice to be able to bounce back after a rough home opener to take it to Lethbridge,” Oxer said.
Soccer is just one of several sports Olds will compete in the ACAC this season, including volleyball and basketball.
“We wanted to go full time into it, so we have full time coaches working at the college. We have a new facility, we’re partnering with athletic therapists as part of the program and athletic trainers. We just wanted to provide our student athletes a first class experience.”
Olds dropped both games at Lakeland Saturday, losing the women’s contest 4-0 and the men’s match 2-0.
They return to action Saturday when they host SAIT. The women kick off at noon with the men to follow.
l The hockey Queens host the Mount Royal University Cougars in non-conference play at 6:45 p.m. at the Arena.
The Queens are coming off a 2-1 loss to the University of Alberta Pandas. MRU is a first-year member of the CIS.
• The Queens volleyball squad will host the Wild Rose Classic, beginning Friday.
RDC is in Pool A and meet Camrose Augustana Friday at 4:30 p.m. and the College of the Rockies from Cranbrook at 8:15 p.m. in the main gym.
Lethbridge, NAIT and Ambrose College of Calgary are in Pool B with The Kings University College, Keyano and Olds in Pool C and the RDC Alumni, Concordia University College and Prairie College of Three Hills in Pool D.
The Alumni meets Prairie Friday at 5:45 p.m. and Concordia at 8:15 p.m. in the Kevin Sirois Gym.
The playoffs run Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. with the bronze medal and gold medal games Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
• The basketball Queens face Augustana on the road at Ermineskin Friday while the golf team will compete in the South Regionals in Lethbridge Saturday and Sunday.
The soccer teams are also on the road as they visit Medicine Hat Saturday and Lethbridge Sunday.
• Soccer dominated the Boston Pizza RDC athlete of the week voting.
First-year midfielder Terra Salmon received the top female award after turning in a solid performance in both a 2-2 tie with SAIT and 8-0 win over Olds.
Kings veteran and all-star midfielder Geng Thain was named the top male performer after the Kings lost 1-0 to SAIT and he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 win over Olds.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com