Royals Wanting PACWEST Crowns

The Douglas Royals have retooled and are ready to open the women’s soccer season this weekend with a pair of games at the VIU Mariners.

Last season the Royals finished 6-3-3 and were upset in the women’s semi-final ending their season prematurely.   It was also the last time we would see head coach Chris Laxton patrol the sidelines as he stepped down following the season.

Fast forward to this year and the Royals have hired Dalibor Plavsic to take the helm and lead this club back to the Conference title.  He has over 10 years of coaching experience and hit the pitch running once being named the head coach.  He and the Royals have had three exhibition games to prepare for this season meeting Coastal FC Women’s Premier, Coquitlam Metro Ford Women’s Premier and TRU.

“We are a young squad, motivated and energetic to get our season started,” says Plavsic. “We’ve got a good blend of personalities and characters that has strengthened our team culture going into the season. We are eager to get the season started and look forward to what this year will bring.”

Despite being young, the Royals have a handful of excellent veteran talent to help make the transition easier with the likes of Isabelle Dobbin, Katie Buckle and Haylee Rogers along with starting keeper Vanessa Chung who will get the nod in the season opener on Saturday.

Coach Plavsic has high expectations for the newest Royals on the team as well and is excited to have Kaiya Narcis (Surrey United), Kaelyn Chong (Fusion FC) and Talia Trasolini (Coquitlam Metro Ford) on the roster.

They open the season on Saturday afternoon at 12:30pm at VIU.

Over on the men’s side the Royals will no doubt be in the mix once again in 2025. They have won four PACWEST gold medals in the last seven years and are hungry to get back on top of the Conference.  Veteran head coach Robby Toor returns and brings with him a wealth of coaching experience.

Just two years removed from their CCAA national gold medal, the Royals will open the season on Saturday on the island at VIU with a nice mix of veterans and talented younger athletes ready to take the next step.  Fifth year starters Matteo Falcone and Filip Capek will lead the squad into each game and keeper Matthew Miller will be prepared on the backend entering his fourth campaign.

“We have a good core returning from last season, and some players returning from our national championship team in 2023,” says Coach Toor. “We have also added some new young talent for this upcoming season.  Any year is tough to win in the PACWEST with the competition so close, but we are confident we have built a team to compete this year and are looking forward to getting things going as it has been a long offseason.”

Toor has had an opportunity to evaluate his team during some preseason games against tough USports competition in UFV, UBC and UVic.  These matches will make them even stronger coming into this weekend.  He is excited to see some of his newest recruits in action including midfielder Leo Anh (VMSL and FVSL), midfielder Spencer Mallett (UBCO) and forward Ousman Touray (VMSL Premier).

The Royals open the season Saturday at VIU against the Mariners following the women’s game and will kick off at 3:00pm.