KUSC Women's Premier to play in the OCSL

It would not be unfair to say that Bob Machin has been around the game of soccer his entire life. His father was one of the founders of the Kingston United Soccer Club (a men's club) in the late 1940s and his brother John was instrumental in the founding of the Pittsburgh Township Soccer Club. As such, it is extremely fitting that Bob finds himself belonging to the Kingston United Soccer Club (KUSC), a club formed in 2004 with the merger of the Kingston Youth Soccer Club and the Pittsburgh Township Soccer Club.

In 2009, Bob Machin, along with Aldo Popazzi and Dimitri Senis, formed the Kingston FC women's team as part of the Kingston Women's Soccer Club (KWSC) to be entered in the Ontario Women's Soccer League (OWSL). That year, they won the East Regional division.
With that victory under their belts, they chose to move to the provincial level for the 2010 season and finished third in the province. In 2011, they finished third again, and dropped to a tie for fourth in the 2012 season. After the 2012 season, the team chose to move from KWSC over to the Kingston United club, a group they had an affiliation with in order to be able to draw players from the U21 and U18 youth teams in their 2012 OWSL season. The move to become part of KUSC was intended to solidify the path for competitive players to move through the ranks, eventually ending up on the team now known as KUSC Premier.

The team made another big decision and change over the course of this past winter, choosing to leave the OWSL and join the Ottawa Carleton Soccer League (OCSL). One of the main motivations for this change was the amount of travel and high costs they faced while playing in the OWSL. While in the OWSL, most of the teams they faced were based in Toronto or west of Toronto, which meant that they spent a lot of time on the road for away games, and often had to add hotel costs to their trips when the league scheduled Saturday/Sunday games for them. With the Ottawa league, the travel is limited to Ottawa, and the costs lowered accordingly.

Bob Machin

Bob Machin said that the team was looking forward to playing in Ottawa this year and facing squads such as the Gloucester Hornets, Ottawa Royals, Nepean Hotspurs, and Falcons Fury. He feels that the competition these teams will present this summer will be on par with what they have faced in the OWSL in the past. Due to the team's history at the OWSL level, the OCSL placed them straight into their top tier, the Women's Premier division.

With the change of league, the team had to appoint a specific reserve team to draw players from when necessary, and Bernie Harpell's U21 KUSC team that plays in the East Region Soccer League is stepping into that role. Both teams will be practicing together regularly, along with the club's U18 team, typically holding one training session a week on Wednesday evenings.

Kevin Greig, one of the assistant coaches of the Queen's women soccer team and the head coach of the Kingston FC women last year, was forced to step down from his role due to the travel but will still be helping with the regular training of the team. As such, Marco Giacomello, the other Queen's assistant coach and last year's assistant coach with the Kingston FC women, is stepping into the head coach's role with the team.

Eight players are expected to return to the team from last year including Jackie Tessier and Riley Filion, both of the Queen's squad. Queen's goalkeeper Sabrina Carew is also rejoining the team having missed much of the last season due to injury. The team is also gaining players from the U21 and U18 teams in Hailey Perrault (SLC player) and Lisa Bache (top scorer last year) from the U21 team and both Marisa Rostek and Kerry Readwin from the U18 roster. Chiara Quadri, a University of Ottawa player based in Kingston this summer, will also be joining the team and bolstering the left side of their defense.

Unfortunately, with the move to a new league, a larger club, and a more structured environment, the upfront costs have increased for the players, amounting to just under $500 a player in fees. In order to help defray these costs, the team has found some local sponsors but is continuing to seek help from local businesses.

In a final tie to his family, Bob Machin's team will be playing their home games at the fields named after his brother, the John Machin Soccer Fields in Greenwood Park on Highway 15 near the 401. These seven games will all be played on Sunday afternoons. The team will play their away games in the Ottawa region, with three falling on Sunday afternoons and the remaining four on Monday nights.