One For The Future; Women's Soccer Welcomes First Recruit For 2022-23
The CMU women's soccer coaching staff has not only turned their focus and attention to September 2021, excitement about future opportunities to compete on a national stage has Lianna Bestvater and Cara Isaak looking to create a program that can consistently challenge for championship trophies in Manitoba and beyond.
One piece of that future puzzle will be recent-commit, Baillee Wiebe; a brave, confident goalkeeper from the Hanover Fusion soccer club. Currently a Grade 11 student at Steinbach Regional Secondary, Wiebe competes with her club team in the Winnipeg Youth Soccer Association (WYSA) where she helped Fusion to a second-place finish in the 2020 season and added a 2nd place finish in the Golden Boy Tournament last summer.
"Baillee has been out to train with us and we are really excited about what she will bring to the program," said Bestvater. "There are alot of difficult decisions to make as a goalkeeper and Baillee showed herself to be a player who isn't shy to come off her line and make things difficult for attackers. She is confident, strong and brave."
In pursuit of sharpening the finer points of her craft, Wiebe registered in the Goalkeeping Academy of One-v-One Futbol Dreams for 2019-20. The result was an outstanding season of Fusion where Wiebe conceded just 10 goals over 12 matches and earned her team's selection as Most Valuable Player.
"Baillee is very coachable and her attitude is right," said Blazers' co-coach Cara Isaak. "Of course, shot-stopping is a big part of goalkeeping but the ability to organize a defense is often more important in limiting an opponent's chances to score goals. Baillee understands that and is also good at distributing the ball. She can help out by starting our attacking phase with a good driven pass, a short pass or an accurate throw."
Always a soccer player, Wiebe transitioned to playing as a goalkeeper about five years ago and won a Golden Glove Award soon after, in 2016. As much as she has loved competing with her Fusion teammates in WYSA at the premier 1, 2 and recreational level over her youth career, the 17 year-old is very eager to make the move into the MCAC and add whatever she can to the up and coming CMU program;
"What excites me the most is being able to play with and get to know people I have never played with before," said Wiebe. "I'm looking forward to a different leve, a different league, and to hopefully make a strong, positive impact in the CMU women's soccer team."
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