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Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports 23 | Thursday, July 17, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com "Connected to your Community" Captain Canada White Oaks grad Kinley McNicoll to lead national U20 team at World Cup by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor After Canada was once again absent from the recent FIFA World Cup, Kinley McNicoll hopes to show people her country can play soccer after all. The 20-year-old White Oaks Secondary School graduate was named Wednesday as the captain of the Canadian team that will compete in the U-20 Women's World Cup tournament next month in four Canadian cities, including Toronto. "It's disappointing there was no Canadian team in the World Cup. But I know other countries, when they think of women's soccer, they think of Canada as a top competitor," said McNicoll, who led the NCAA's Wisconsin Badgers in points and assists last season as a sophomore midfielder but will be utilized as a defender by Canada. "We certainly want to build on the exposure (soccer has received this summer). I know our team has talked about it.. it's our goal to excite the country." The Canadian senior women's team is currently ranked seventh in the world, coming off a bronze-medal win at the 2012 Olympics in London -- when Oakville's Diana Matheson scored in the final minute of injury time to beat France, 1-0. But Canada's U20 women's program has not been quite as fortunate in recent years, failing to advance past group play at the World Cup since it last hosted the tournament in 2002. Canadian U20 women's head coach Andrew Olivieri recently told FIFA.com that winning a quarter-final game at this year's tournament is "an ambitious target", but also "achievable." Oakville native Kinley McNicoll has been selected to captain the Canadian team at next month's Under-20 Women's World Cup soccer tournament. | photo courtesy Canada Soccer McNicoll agreed advancing past group play would make for a successful tournament for Canada, which will open the competition Aug. 5 versus Ghana at Toronto's BMO Field. The Canadian women's preliminary-round schedule also includes games against Finland Aug. 8 in Toronto and Korea DPR Aug. 12 in Montreal. Moncton and Edmonton will be the other host cities for the tournament. Montreal will be the site for the semifinals and medal games. McNicoll said her father, Andrew, has already purchased a large number of tickets for the first game in Toronto. She is excited about the opportunity to play for her home country, in her home country, and in front of family and friends. "I've been in the spotlight before, when you have a ton of pressure on your shoulders and a lot of people expect different things from you," said McNicoll, whose goal four years ago lifted Canada to a 1-0 win over Mexico in the CONCACAF U17 final. "I'm not one to get super-nervous before a game. I definitely like the pressure and expectations." The U20 women's team will prepare for the tournament by playing a pair of friendlies in Mexico, followed by an exhibition contest against England. -- Jon Kuiperij can be followed on Twitter @Beaversports Jones preps for CW Games with victory on Pan Am course by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff Kyle Jones needs little to remind him of the approach of the Pan Am Games. Just two kilometres from his home, the Cisco Milton Pan Am Velodrome is taking shape. Its progress, which he sees every time he leaves his house, acts like an hourglass, counting down the days to the Games. Jones has had an odd relationship with the Pan Am Games, having turned in a pair of fourth-place triathlon finishes that meant very different things to him. "In '07, I was one of the youngest guys in the race," said the 2012 Olympian and Q.E. Park high school grad. "Not too much was expected of me and I surprised myself and other people. In '11, I had different expectations. I felt like I could win a medal, if not win (the event)." Four years later, those expectations have not changed and Jones said being able "to do it at home would be really special." So when Jones began mapping out his competition season, Kyle Jones he circled the ITU Pan American Cup in Toronto. He could have competed the previous week at the World Triathlon Series race in Hamburg. But for Jones, a chance to race on the course where the Pan Am Games will be contested was a chance he could not let pass by. After climbing to the top step of the podium following Saturday's race, held as part of the one-year countdown celebration, Jones hoped to occupy the same spot in 363 days. He went to the front of the pack during a chilly 1.5-kilometre swim in Lake Ontario and remained there, taking first place in a time of one hour, 48 minutes and 26 seconds, nine seconds ahead of Canadian teammate Alexander Hinton and more than a minute head of third-place finisher Jason Wilson of Barbados. Enjoyed racing close to home "It's always nice to be on the podium and to win a race is a great feeling," the 29-yearold said. "The fact that it is on the Pan Am Games course, getting a chance to preview that, you can't pass that up. And the fact that I had family and friends there, it was cool to have that after spending the majority of the last four or five years competing around the world." The swim will take place in a protected area off Ontario Place, followed by a "flat and fast" bike and run course. And while the Oakville native passed up a chance to compete against the world's best in Hamburg, Jones will get that opportunity soon enough when he leads the Canadian team into the Commonwealth Games next week in Glasgow. That race will feature two of the three medallists from the London Olympics, Great see Busy on p.24