Bisons aspire to post-season glory

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This article was published 24/08/2022 (1458 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nicole Davis has one purpose: to ensure anyone, no matter if they have a disability, can have the same experience as everyone else in sports.

Davis, 22, is a fifth-year biomedical engineering student at the University of Manitoba with aspirations to develop prosthetic ligaments for Paralympic athletes one day.

“Sports have been such an important part of my life, with the connections I’ve made and the friends and experiences, and I believe every person deserves a chance to experience all the things that come with athletics,” Davis told the Free Press on Wednesday.

Davis said she’s always been interested in the medical field, specifically physiotherapy, but that her initial interest in the field stemmed from some of her hardships, even if she didn’t realize it at the time.

A multi-sport athlete from a young age, excelling in soccer and track and field, she had been in and out of numerous casts, braces and physiotherapy sessions by the time she was in high school.

Her biggest scare came in Grade 8, when she strained a few ligaments in her knee, forcing her to go to Winnipeg’s Pan Am Clinic for a knee brace.

“It was a pretty big knee brace. When they gave me it, I was a bit worried because it was a such a big device,” she said.

“They showed me the steps on how to use it and why it will help me. So I found that really interesting, about all the different types of components that are integrated to a device for rehabilitation.”

Davis has since shed the knee brace but has stayed true to her love of sport.

Currently in her fourth year of eligibility, Davis embodies the student-athlete, holding a 3.7 GPA in her studies while a member for the Bisons’ women’s soccer and track and field teams.

Her soccer season starts on Friday, when the Bison’s travel to Regina to face the Cougars for the first game of their 14-match season.

The team is looking to bounce back from a 6-4 campaign that had them narrowly missing the reformatted playoffs in 2021.

Davis said she believes the team is primed to reintroduce themselves in the post-season.

“The dedication. One hundred per cent. I think the dedication (in comparison) to other years has really improved and the girls just want to get better,” the striker said.

“We’ve never trained this much in previous seasons. The girls trained throughout the winter, spring and normally we have June off, but throughout those months, our coach gave us optional practices to train and it was always filled with girls at those practices.”

Head coach Vannessa Martinez-Lagunas said she hopes the continuity and chemistry carried over from 2021 will reflect in the way the Bisons play this season.

“Something that I love about this team is our diversity,” said Martinez-Lagunas, who enters her 10th year as bench boss. “We have a very multicultural team with players from all over Canada, some international players, and, of course, lots of local talent.”

The international talent doesn’t get much greater than defender/winger Dalima Chhibber, who enters her third year of eligibility with the program.

Chhibber, born in India, was stranded from the team last year as she stayed in her native country because of flight restrictions owing to the pandemic. While she was away, she played 16 games with the Indian national team.

“She’s a big part of the Indian national team and probably the face of women’s (soccer) in India,” Martinez-Lagunas said.

“I think that experience is going to be huge for the team and just her maturity, our current Bisons players can learn a lot from her.”

The Bisons will have more chances to play on a big stage this season. The team will host three games at IG Field. They’ve never played there more than once in a season.

“You’re going to see a team that fights to the end, that has a lot of heart and is going to be really exciting to watch. Hopefully we will score some beautiful goals for the fans to be excited about,” Martinez-Lagunas said.

Amy Anderson hopes the UofW Wesmen can score a few more than last season.

The Wesmen went winless in 2021, scoring just four goals over the 10-game season in a reduced conference that included the universities of Saskatchewan, Regina and Manitoba.

“We’re excited for this season. We know that we’re in a very tough conference, but I for sure think we have made improvements since last season,” said Anderson, who enters her ninth year behind the bench.

“Markers for me is performing when we need to perform. If we look at winning more than three or four games this year, that’s what we want. I think as long as we’re getting better from last year, that’s a good thing.”

The Wesmen open their campaign on the road against a tough opponent in the Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday, but Anderson doesn’t think people should write off her squad just yet.

“Trust me, we’re not going in there lying down. We’re going in there to get points… I think results will come if we keep working hard and getting better daily.”

Anderson said midfielder Brianna Machado, in her second year, and striker Emma Friesen, in her third year, will be leaned on heavily to generate offence for the optimistic squad.

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“I’m excited about, as a group, our attack… and we’ve improved on our defensive discipline. I think other teams will see that,” Anderson said.

“I think our girls are going to surprise people. It’s nice because we’re going in as underdogs. I have a lot of belief in this group.”

The Bisons and Wesmen will return to the Canada West conference this season and compete for spots in the 10-team post-season.

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam

Joshua Frey-Sam
Reporter

Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He reports primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports. Read more about Josh.

Every piece of reporting Josh produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.