Pursuit is sports feature series highlighting athletes, coaches, and staff and significant sporting events from North Bay and the surrounding area.
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The Nipissing Lakers Men’s soccer team has two games remaining on the regular season schedule with the Toronto Varsity Blues and Queen’s Gaels as their remaining opponents. Toronto is in town this weekend, with Queens coming for a visit on October 22nd. The Lakers will be surely focused on picking up some crucial points with playoff positioning at stake.
The Lakers are now 3-5-2 with 11 points on the year after a scoreless draw against Trent on Saturday in Peterborough. The Lakers are chasing both Toronto and Queens who have 12 and 14 points respectively, but also have a game in hand. The top six teams will qualify for the playoffs and the Lakers are four points ahead of seventh place Trent, although Trent has four games remaining compared to the Lakers' two.
One of their veteran players, Keeper Ryan Miners, says they are taking it all in, one game at a time.
“Everybody probably counted us out against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks last year, thinking ‘How did Nipissing even get them? We ended up winning that game and going through the crossover game. So I try not to worry about that stuff too much. I know most of our players try to as well, just think one game at a time. Right now, my mind is only on the next matchup.”
Last year the Lakers picked up their first playoff home win at the artificial turf field in a 1-0 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues in the first round, before defeating the top-seeded Ridgebacks in penalty kicks in the OUA quarterfinals. The Lakers ended in a semifinal loss to the McMaster Marauders 3-0.
“Last year was huge. We had a lot of guys returning. We're missing a few familiar faces this year. Our season started off pretty well, but there's always room for improvement,” says Miners. “We always expect more. We always want more. We just need to focus on taking it one game at a time. Get three points wherever possible.”
Miners is in his last year of eligibility with the Nipissing Lakers. Born and raised in London, Ontario, Miners spent his first few years of his post-secondary education at Fanshawe College, playing for the Falcons.
“I was recruited there by the head coach Rob Pereira, he's a part of the London youth White Caps organization that I've played with growing up. He tries to keep as many guys as he can back in London, and offers them a little bit of advice, future goals, and stuff towards schooling. So, he said Fanshawe would be a good fit for anybody still trying to figure it out,” says Miners who found tremendous success within the program.
“I started the first year as a backup, but by mid-season, I took over the starting role. I played two seasons there. First season we came third in the province, second season we came second, losing to Humber. But it was a really good program and school and I had a really good time at Fanshawe. But then I decided I wanted to do more and I had a couple more years left to play. So that's how I ended up pursuing further education as well as playing soccer on a higher level.”
Miners is in the Criminal Justice program at Nipissing University.
“I was looking through some options and I saw Nipissing as a possible option. It’s a smaller school, with smaller classrooms, really liked it. The outdoor kind of vibe to the campus, is a very tight-knit community. I was just really interested in coming here. I talked to the coach and then we made it happen from there.”
Miners is hoping to use his schooling to find a career within the RCMP. “I'm currently in the fifth of seven stages of their recruitment process, so things are progressing well there, but RCMP would be my end goal, but I'm not counting out CSA border security as well,” he says. “I was always interested in other people's lives, interested in trying to better them in any way I can, and then I decided, you know what? Firefighting or policing, which one seems like it would suit me more? I like talking to people and I like being active in the Community.”
Miners says growing up he played both soccer and hockey, playing in the London Junior Knights program, but soccer was the sport that stuck with him.
“I had a bit more passion for it, a bit more love and I found it's more of a creative game.”
He says it was in his U9 year when his team needed someone to go in the net and without hesitation, his arm went up to volunteer to be that games keeper.
“Much to my parents' dismay. They were not pleased at all. I said, yeah, I'll do it. And then ever since then, that’s been my spot. I've always wanted to be a striker, though. I would love to be the guy scoring the goals, instead of getting scored on, but yeah, I decided then and there I'm going to be keeper.”
Miners says even after 15 years, his mother still can’t watch him in penalty kicks.
“Not even the replay,” says Miners. “She won't watch the replay, even if she knows I make the save!”
Miners says he thrives during games where he gets a lot of action around his net.
“I love those kinds of games. I love it when it's just all dirty work. It's up to the defensive line and me just doing everything we can to try to keep the team in the game. Those are the best sometimes. It can get frustrating because you feel like you don't even get a second to grab your water bottle outside of your net and take a sip before you're back into action, but I'd rather those games any day of the week over 6-0 and I didn't touch the ball once, maybe for a goal kick or something, but they can be rough to be in, but after those 90 minutes are up, you feel real accomplished and I always have a smile on my face. Win, lose, or draw, I'm always having fun playing soccer.”
The Lakers are hoping they will be playing even more soccer again after this weekend. They will host Toronto at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday and Queens at the same time on Sunday. Both games can also be seen live on OUA.tv
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