Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Suekiana Choucair tells the story about how as soon as she could walk, her father Zoul had her kicking around a soccer ball.
It's no wonder the beautiful game is ingrained in her blood.
Now in her fourth season, Choucair has already established herself as one of the top midfielders in Canada West, but if anyone needed extra proof, last weekend was Exhibit A.
The Edmontonian was masterful on set pieces, factoring in four of the Griffins' six goals as they beat two tough B.C. squads on the road – 3-2 over Trinity Western and 3-0 over UFV.
"I think it was massive," said Griffins head coach Dean Cordeiro. "She's been working really hard and maybe the bounces weren't going her way early on. It's like anything. In a game versus the No. 1-ranked team (in U SPORTS – Trinity Western), if you get yourself going hopefully it's going to pave the way to be on the right track for the rest of the season.
"For us, in general, not just Suekiana, to have a three-goal output against a pretty stout defensive team like Trinity (Western) really opened up our eyes to what our players are capable of. Now we just have to keep it going."
Choucair, the Griffins' top scorer with five points, leads the 4-1-1 squad into another pair of ultra-tough matches this weekend as Victoria (4-3-0) visits Friday (6 p.m.) and UBC (5-2-0) is here Sunday (12 p.m., both games at Clarke Stadium). Both are traditional conference powers who regularly go to nationals.
"Personally, going into this weekend, I have a lot of confidence," said Choucair. "Going to Trinity, we had confidence because we know the personnel we have, but it was nerve-racking. If we keep on the high that we're on, I think it's good."
As much as her father influenced her soccer career, he did the same for Suekiana's younger sister, Laila, who has also joined the Griffins this season. In fact, the first-year midfielder saw the first action of her Canada West career when she was inserted into the UFV match last Saturday in extra time.
"It was nice, it was exciting, and I got to travel this weekend," said Laila Choucair, who had a front row seat to her sister's heroics.
"It was nice to see her make such an impact and to root for her," she added. "She plays my position, too, so it was nice to see her do really well and hold the standard."
As the torch of mentorship continues to get passed in a successful Griffins women's soccer program, Suekiana is now in that role for her sister and many of the younger MacEwan players. When she first came to the university in 2015, Suekiana learned the ropes from senior midfielders Jennifer Lam and Erika Vecchio.
"It was a comfort having them there," she said, adding they were even her roommates in her rookie campaign. "I feel like I'm hopefully doing the same for her."
The mentor's message for her younger sister?
"Just play. Don't put any pressure on yourself," said Suekiana Choucair. "It's your first year. You shouldn't put any pressure on yourself any year, but I remember my first year I went in and just played. Whatever happened, happened.
"I think she's got the quality that if she just comes in and plays (she'll be fine)."
Laila Choucair saw the first action of her Canada West career late in last weekend's contest at UFV.
It's possible one day soon the Griffins will have a pair of Choucairs patrolling the midfield. There's no doubt they have a sort of sixth sense about where one another is on the field.
"It's definitely a cool dynamic," said Cordeiro. "You always worry sometimes that they can get on each other as well, but there's been much love between the two of them. They get along really well.
"I think Suek's really helped mentor Laila and it's really been showing these last couple of weeks with the energy that Laila's brought to the table. We hope they're a special tandem here. Suek's in her fourth year, but there's still a year and a half to go and we hope that maybe those two at some point will be patrolling the midfield together and being on the same page in dissecting other teams' personnel."
Whether or not that happens this weekend remains to be seen, but either way the Choucairs will play a major role if the Griffins are to qualify for the U SPORTS nationals for the first time in program history.
"Get yer popcorn ready. It's an exciting weekend," said Cordeiro. "You can't get a harder stretch of opponents than these past two weekends. UVic and UBC are two of the top teams in our conference. It shows by where they place every season and how often they go to nationals.
"It's going to be another very difficult test. It only gets harder from here on out no matter who we play. We're going to come out one game at a time.
"If we play for 90 minutes and do what we need to do to execute, I like our chances no matter who we play – I've said that from Day 1," added Cordeiro. "But there's definitely very little room for error. A team like UVic is very disciplined and very good in transition and getting numbers forward. Anything but our best on Friday won't be good enough."
They'll get a day off to regroup and steel themselves for UBC, who is employing the next wave of talent after stars Jasmin Dhanda and Aman Shergill graduated. Second-year Thunderbirds forward Danielle Steer currently leads Canada West in scoring with 11 points in seven games.
"It's a very difficult weekend ahead, we all know that," said Cordeiro. "Our preparation has been immense all week. We're excited. The girls are really looking forward to the opportunity."