Results tagged “Victoria Highlanders” from College Sports Blog

Coaching connection

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Should the Fusion meet Victoria in Sunday's Western Conference final, the touchline will be the site of an unlikely reunion.

Fusion coach Ole Mikkelsen and Victoria coach Ian Bridge have met many times before on the soccer fields of the old North American Soccer League.

Mikkelsen was a striker for the Washington Diplomats and San Jose Earthquakes and Bridge was a central defender for the Seattle Sounders.

Fusion looking to host

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The Premier Development League postseason may be coming back to Ventura.

The Ventura County Fusion, who hosted the 2009 PDL Final at Buena High and have already clinched its third straight postseason berth, confirmed Thursday that it has submitted a bid to host the Western Conference playoffs July 29-31 at Ventura College.

"We've already submitted something," said Fusion general manager Ranbir Shergill.

The potential host club submits a bid that outlines what it will provide the three visiting clubs, from hotels, transportation, stadium costs and referee costs.

"It gets relatively expensive," said Shergill. "I think we put a reasonable bid. It comes down to expenses at the end of the day. We'd certainly be covering a large part of different things... We'll wait and see what happens."

Considering the conference includes three of the four unbeaten teams remaining in the 64-team PDL, the Western foursome will feature Final Four-level quality.

Ventura County (10-0-5), Fresno (11-0-3) and Kitsap (12-0-3) have already clinched berths and the fourth will be from the British Columbian duo of Vancouver (7-5-3) and Victoria (7-4-3).

"It'll be fantastic to have it locally," said Shergill.

The Fusion's bid may be boosted by circumstance. Kitsap hosted last year's conference tournament and Fresno's Chukchansi Park is already hosting minor league baseball next weekend.

But Shergill added that there would be an upside to spending the postseason on the road.

"We've been hosting all these other games and hosting another tournament is a lot of work," said Shergill. "If we don't get it, at least you don't have to worry about the work. You can focus on the (soccer)."

The Fusion staff has already been hard at work hosting West Bromwich Albion of the English Premier League, Independiente of Argentina and the New Zealand Under-20 team.

Shergill did add that, if the Fusion missed out on the conference tournament but advanced, the Fusion would pursue hosting the Final Four.

"If we win two games," said Shergill, "we'll have another opportunity to try and host."

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Ventura County Star sports writer and columnist Joe Curley covers college sports and soccer for this Star. This is the place to click for local college football and basketball coverage, including USC, UCLA, Moorpark College, Ventura College and Cal Lutheran.

Curley will update from live events and also interject with periodic comment on both international soccer and the local Ventura County Fusion.