The Bishop's University women's soccer squad will kick-off their 2017 season against No.1 Laval in Quebec City at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 31^st.
The Gaiters had a busy preseason, with six games in two weeks.
Preseason Action

Aug. 18	Bishop's – 0	University of Ottawa – 3	In Ottawa, Ont.
Aug. 19	Bishop's – 0	Algonquin College – 0	In Ottawa, Ont.
Aug. 20	Bishop's – 0	Carleton University – 3	In Ottawa, Ont.
Aug. 22	Bishop's – 2	Champlain-Lennoxville – 1	In Lennoxville, Que.
Aug. 24	Bishop's – 0	Saint Michael's College – 3	In Vermont, US
Aug. 26	Bishop's - 2	Johnson State College – 0	In Vermont, US

 







"Coming into training camp the girls surpassed our expectations physically, we were able to get on the field quicker and get to our tactics," said head coach Paul Ballard.  "We are still a very young team; we are two or three years away from competing with the big teams in our league. The fact that we were able to get on the field earlier and work on our tactics was very significant."

Bishop's is a very young team with ten new girls on the roster.  Check out the class of 2017!

"We are way more prepared than last year at this stage," said Ballard.  "The new girls coming in have adapted incredibly well to our team and our culture. One of the most important things to our program is the work off the field.  The girls have worked really hard with our team building program, as much as on the field with the tactics and physical stuff."

"When we ended our preseason on Sunday night the mood was celebratory, we accomplished a lot. We are heading into this first game against Laval not scared but excited to apply our game, principles and tactics. 
Bishop's finished 1-11-2 in the RSEQ last season with their win coming over Concordia.  Laval is the raining U SPORTS champion; they went 13-0-1 in the RSEQ.  Last season Bishop's lost to Laval 1-0 and 4-0.
 
"Against Laval, we are not anticipating going out there and controlling the match with our ability on the ball, but we looking at how we can control the match off the ball and make it difficult for them to score.  We will have five girls in the starting eleven who have never played at this level before, they are going to experience the best right away, and there is no better way to learn than by experiencing it.  As a program it is a great first step and as a team it is a good litmus test to see how far we have come since last fall."

Watch Live  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqXNvuakRyk
 
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