April 11, 2006 Lady Lynx in disarray (from Toronto Star)
Lady Lynx in disarray
Coach, top goalie no longer with W-League team
Deal with Oakville partners dissolves, leads to turmoil
Apr. 11, 2006. 01:00 AM
The Toronto Lady Lynx soccer team had a tremendous inaugural season last year going 11-3, earning a berth in the playoffs and finishing second in league attendance.
Now, with training camp set to open next week, the amateur team is in turmoil.
The head coach is gone and at least one key player has jumped to another team. Others may follow suit.
It's all fallout from a fractured partnership with the Oakville Soccer Club, an arrangement that last year helped the Lady Lynx attract several top players and under which Oakville Soccer bought enough tickets to help push Lady Lynx attendance to 2,000 a game.
The partners split because the not-for-profit soccer club wanted to run its own squad in the United Soccer League's W-League, a 37-team circuit considered the top level of women's soccer in North America.
Lady Lynx owners Bruno and Nicole Hartrell, who control W-League territorial rights throughout the GTA, rejected the request.
"The original deal never contemplated any ownership," Bruno Hartrell said.
Under that deal, the Lady Lynx shared resources with the well-financed Oakville Soccer Club, one of the most powerful community soccer associations in North America with $2.5 million in yearly revenues, 10,000 registered players and 700 teams.
Oakville Soccer also provided the Lady Lynx with coach Brett Mosen, a full-time employee. Danny Stewart will replace Mosen when training camp opens next Wednesday.
The coaching change and rancour has prompted players loyal to Mosen to leave or consider leaving.
That group includes Canadian national team goalkeeper Stacey Van Boxmeer, who is joining the Hamilton Avalanche, an expansion W-League franchise.
"They're just telling us to hold on and see what's going on. I'd rather say, `This is what's going on,' so I can set my plans for the summer," says Van Boxmeer, 20, a student from Collingwood in her third year at Indiana on a soccer scholarship.
Despite the defection, Hartrell insists most players from last year will be on the field for the season opener May 13 at Centennial Park in Etobicoke.
Lady Lynx players first learned there was discord between the team and the soccer association when Mosen sent them an angry email two weeks ago claiming the Lynx organization "wanted everything."
Neil Brown, president of Oakville Soccer, distanced his organization from Mosen's email, which Bruno Hartrell read to the Star, saying Mosen wasn't part of the negotiations with the Hartrells.
The ex-coach declined to speak about the matter when reached by the Star.
Last year, Oakville Soccer asked for a larger say in the Lady Lynx operation and the two sides began talking in earnest late last year about launching a second team in the GTA.
"They wanted 100 per cent ownership (of a Peel/Halton team) by the end of next year ... or nothing," says Hartrell.
The Hartrells refused to accept the offer, largely because they didn't want marketing and sponsorship competition from another independent local entity.
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