Season Preview: Kodiaks Futsal starts the new season at home

Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks men’s and women’s futsal teams will kick off their 2025 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) season this weekend with a pair of games against Medicine Hat College Rattlers.

Both Kodiaks teams are made up of players from the outdoor soccer season as they have to adapt from playing on a large field to a smaller gymnasium. There’s five players a side on the court at one time, including a goalkeeper. A smaller, harder ball is used in the fast-paced game which focuses on ball handling technique and possession.

The Kodiak women are coming off a 7-1-2 regular season and silver-medal finish at the ACAC Championship in 2024 where they were edged 1-0 by top-ranked SAIT Trojans in the championship match.

Kodiaks assistant coach Kayla Beers said the team has lost some veterans from last year as well as the outdoor season, but new recruits have stepped in to fill the void.

“We did lose some players from outdoor just due to academics or they may have gone home or finished their semester, things like that,” said Beers. “We have a lot of new recruits this year, more new recruits than vets. The vets that we do have been really helpful, they’re always more than happy to guide our new recruits which is great for the coaching staff.”

Key returnees include Gracee Valgardson (second year, General Arts and Science, Lethbridge), Jayna Timinski (fourth year, Child and Youth Care, Calgary) and Megan Morrison (fourth year, Nursing Bachelor’s Degree, Medicine Hat), who was a tournament all-star in 2024 along with teammates Jordan Quinn and Taylor Hrycun.

“Gracee has been a really great vet for us, she’s very vocal on the court and helps guide the girls to where they need to be,” said Beers. “Megan is a leads-by-example kind of player, she’s always working really hard and is someone who can score some gritty goals. She’s a player you know you can turn to and know she’s going to get the job done.

“Jayna is another really strong leader. She’s vocal and leads by example and has great footwork.”

While Beers and head coach Sean Carey will be relying on veteran leadership, they’ll also be looking at the newcomers for contributions.

“Some of the new girls seem to have a really good soccer IQ in the sense they understand the game well,” said Beers. “They understand how to get into position properly. Futsal is new to them but they seem to be grasping it pretty quickly.”

Beers said the goal for the Kodiaks is to make it to the ACAC Championship, which will be hosted by Lakeland College in Lloydminster in March. The road to the championship begins this weekend.

“I think things are looking good, we’re excited,” said Beers. “We’re hosting our opening games this weekend against our Highway 3 rival Medicine Hat. The season has come up quick. We came back from Christmas break, trained for two weeks and now we’re right into games.

“The following weekend we go to Medicine Hat and two weekends after that we’re hosting South Regionals with the South Division teams coming in to play in our gym, both boys and girls. It will be a ton of futsal action, so it will be a good test of where we’re at.”

Beers anticipates defending champion SAIT to be strong again while Red Deer could also be strong in their inaugural year after a successful outdoor season. In the North, Keyano, Lakeland and Concordia should be near the top.

Meanwhile, the Kodiak men finished last season with a 4-5-1 record, just missing out on the ACAC Championship tournament.

Like the Kodiak women, the men are made up of players from the outdoor season, said men’s assistant coach Mike Racz.

“There’s players here that maybe excel a little bit more and players that may struggle a bit more compared to outdoor just because of the nature of the game,” said Racz. “The more creative players are the ones who are able to excel because they create space.”

Kodiak men, also under the guidance of Carey, have a mix of veteran players and new recruits.

“We brought in this year quite a few local young players that I think have had an impact on our team,” said Racz. “Having said that, there are some older players who have a little bit more experience with this type of game.”

Kodiaks will be relying on the experience and leadership of a pair of veterans in Ryder Skolka (second year, Business Administration, Nelson, B.C.) and Wilson Ntignee (fifth year, Business Administration, Bori, Nigeria).

“Ryder was our captain in outdoor and will be our captain here,” said Racz. “Physically, he’s a big player and he’s able to hold the ball a little bit more, and he’s also got very good foot skills so he’s able to create quite a bit.

“Wilson, he’s definitely one of our more senior players. He’s been around, he’s refereed futsal and played futsal at the college a couple of years ago, so he provides a lot of experience. He’s a very creative player and has the ability to unlock defences. He’ll make a quick move and either feed a player or take a shot.”

Like the women, the Kodiak men’s goal is to advance to the ACAC Championship. However, it won’t be an easy task, said Racz, as they open their season at home against the Rattlers, who were silver medallists last season.

“This weekend will be a really good test for us because we struggled with Medicine Hat in outdoor,” said Racz. “We finished above them in the regular season in outdoor, but they had our number both times we played them, so this is a really good test for us to show that we can compete with them because I don’t think we competed with them in the two outdoor games.

“That was a bit of an anomaly within our season. We competed well with SAIT and Red Deer, the top two teams, and if we would have beaten Medicine Hat we would have ended up on top of the division, but for some reason Medicine Hat had our number.”

As for the teams to beat this season, Racz said it’s a toss-up.

“It’s kind of up in the air as to who will pull ahead of the pack,” he said. “Any of the teams, especially within their top eight, have quality players so I think even a team that struggled (in outdoor) like Olds – any of the smaller teams – it’s easier for them to have success here because you don’t need 12 players on the field. Realistically you only need four good players and you’re competing, so it’s a little harder to predict where we’ll end up. There’s quality within the whole league now and any given day you could win or lose.”

Kodiaks open the season Saturday against the Rattlers with the women’s game at noon and the men’s game at 1:30 p.m. at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium. The following weekend the Kodiaks head to Medicine Hat for a return engagement before preparing to host the first South Regional tournament on Feb. 1 and 2. Other competing teams will include SAIT, Ambrose University, Medicine Hat College, Olds College and Red Deer Polytechnic.

The second South Regional tournament will take place Feb. 22-23 at Olds College, followed by the ACAC Championship tournament March 6-9 at Lakeland.