8 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2011 EDITOR KYLA JONAS SS BC Place open and ready to play Stadium renovations hope to excite fans and encour- age attendance By MATT HYNDMAN be complete, but BC Place stadium has officially opened and much has changed. “Wow,” mouthed Shawn Gore as he took the field. “That’s HD!” Dante Marsh said, look- ing up at the scoreboard. The BC Lions were impressed as they admired their new digs on Sept. 15, but will it bring more fans out to the games? The stadium’s crown-like shape is now a distinctive feature of the Vancou- ver skyline, punctuated by 36 support masts that each stretch 47 metres into the sky. Inside, the retractable roof re- veals an opening equal in size to the field below. Two 68-by-38-foot video screens hang over the field, the second largest in North America after the screens at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. Wider seats were also installed because it had become increasingly difficult to fit people into chairs built in 1983. Howard Crosley, the general man- ager of BC Place, was also down on the field, confident that the renovations would attract more fans. “I can tell you that everyone’s first reaction is ‘Wow!’”” he said. Crosley thinks fans will quickly for- get the claustrophobic atmosphere of the old stadium. “It’s a very different environment now. It’s much more open and light comes in,” he said pointing to the new windows below the roof. “Tt looks really cool. It does stick out, but that’s partly because it’s new,” said Hector Leung, a Langara science stu- dent. Leung points out that although he’s a football fan he doesn’t plan to attend more games. But the possibility of the stadium attracting elite soccer tourna- ments does pique his interest. The first such event will be the CONCACAF women’s Olympic qualify- ing tournament in January 2012. “T wasn’t quite sure at first but I like it. It’s another landmark in the city,” said Mackenzie Edgar, a Langara arts and science transfer student. The new stadium drew 50,2138 to the first Lions game on Friday, and a lower bowl sell-out of over 21,000 for the Whitecaps on Sunday. Next up, the Whitecaps are playing the Real Salt Lake at BC Place tonight. T: $563-million renovation may not ALEXANDRA GRANT photo The Falcons Women’s soccer team (in white) lost to the Quest Kermodes 1-0 in a hard-fought game played last Saturday at BCIT. Falcons soar with team spirit The women’s soccer team is finding chemistry on the field By ALEXANDRA GRANT aturday’s hard-fought battle against rival Quest University may not have resulted in a win for the Langara women’s soccer team, but it did serve as a platform for several new stars to emerge. The Oct. 1 game at the BCIT Burna- by field was evenly matched through- out the first period, but after a sharply shot goal by Quest Kermodes’ player Mari Tarleton early in the second peri- od, the Langara Falcons regrouped and several key players took charge. Falcons forward Lana Rockhill, who was recently named BCCAA Athlete of the Week, tenaciously fought through the Kermodes defense line, charging the net repeatedly with support from her team. She pointed to the close-knit nature of the team and head coach Ryan Birt’s leadership as the reason she’s excelled athletically throughout the season. “They’re an awesome group of girls, I think it’s the best year so far,” she said of the team.“Ryan’s a really, really good coach and everyone can say that. He believes in everyone, and he loves play- ers that work hard.” Shannon Madill and Jade Palm were both standouts at Saturday’s game as well, holding down the defensive line on the left and right side respectively. Both players played an aggressive yet focused game, consistently stop- ping Kermodes forwards in their tracks. With 11 first year and three second strong morale. lives right now.” ance. 66 t fer pl joining th t To be year transfer players joining the roster this year, Birt believes that the players’ honest in age is one explanation for the team’s with you, “To be honest with you, the chemis- the chemis- try of the group is probably one of the try of the best that I’ve seen in my 11 years here,” ; he said, “I think it’s actually helped group ts that so many of them arethesameage, Probably they’re all in the same place in their one of the When asked how he prepares his best that players for games against rivals, Birt I’ve seenin describes his approach as an art of bal- my 11 “You want to coach and put your Years here. stamp on things, but at the same time, I’m a big believer that you have to give them some freedom, allowing them to RYAN BIRT, be creative with their playing.” Coach ALANNA HARDINGE-ROONEY photo Manpreet Parmar and Luka Giljanovie face off. B-balling Falcons set for action Langara’s men’s and wom- en’s basketball teams are ready for the challenges of this upcoming season By ALANNA HARDINGE-ROONEY once again with the pounding of basketballs as two Falcons teams begin their pre-season practices and games. Rosters for both the men’s and wom- en’s teams are composed of a mix of rookies and veterans, and despite hav- ing only trained together for a matter of weeks, the respective teams are al- ready finding cohesion on the court. Women’s coach Mike Evans is count- ing on returning starters Hailey He- bron, Rhea Silvestri and Carling Muir to lead his team to improve upon last season’s 9-9 record, which saw them T: Langara gymnasium is echoing finish sixth in league playoffs. “Usually when players come back from having played that first year,” he said. “They come back a lot better from that experience.” Provincial playoffs is the team’s pri- mary goal, but Evans notes the diffi- culty competing in a league with uni- versity teams like UNBC and VIU, which have the advantage of retaining their players for up to five years. The team’s main challenge, however, comes down to numbers. “We're not as deep as I'd like to be,” Evans says, referencing that his team of 10 is a few players short of a full ros- ter. The situation is markedly different for the men’s team, which boasts 15 players — five rookies, five veterans and five second-year players who are new to the team. After failing to make league playoffs last season, coach Jake McCallum hopes the team’s experience and ath- leticism will fuel their success. “We've got a good core of guards,” he said. Adding that a few of the bigger players, “can really get up and down the court.” With plenty of talent, firepower and ambition, the team is poised for suc- cess. “IT want to go to nationals with this team,” second-year guard-forward E]- liot Mason says. “All we really need to work on is the defensive end, and real- ly after that I see us as being unstop- pable.” Last Friday the Falcons took on Lan- gara alumni in a double header. The men defeated the alumni 97-89, while the women lost to them 59-69 in over- time. Pre-season play will continue through October, with the first league games for both teams set to take place in Nanaimo on Nov. 11 at VIU.