‘Making sure you’ve got your A-game’: Calgary Wild adjusting to rigours of first campaign

The Calgary Wild are past the quarter mark of the inaugural Northern Super League season.

They enter Week 10 with three wins, three losses, and two draws and are in the top half of the table when it comes to goal differential.

However, injuries are proving to be a challenge, forcing head coach Lydia Bedford to adjust on the fly.

“We’re in a bit of a sticky spot in terms of players on the bench,” she shared last weekend after a 2-1 home loss to AFC Toronto.

“We have a number of players that are out. We had players sat on the bench today that weren’t available to come on the pitch, even if I’d have wanted to put them on.”

The good news is that the July transfer window is coming up, and the Wild have a few open spots on their roster. This gives them the chance to focus on adding depth in the areas they need it most.

Bedford is not using injuries as an excuse; instead, she emphasizes her team’s attitude and the next player-up mentality as crucial as the mid-season stretch approaches.

“This group is resilient, and if I make the right decision around who goes on where, we’ve got players that can play in multiple positions,” she said.

“We just need to pick the best group at any given moment. And if that means everyone’s got to knuckle down, or we have to assess the formation or whatever’s right for us as we go into the second half of the season, then we’ll get the best out of the group.”

Four clubs advance to the playoffs in the six-team NSL, leaving ample time for the Wild to improve their standings, as their final match isn’t until mid-October. However, if the postseason were to start today, Calgary would secure the fourth seed.

“Every game is tight, and every game could probably go either way most of the time in this league,” Bedford explained. “It’s really about just making sure that you’ve got your A-game ready to go every time. And I think that’s great, as a coach, it excites me.”

The Wild visit Ottawa on Saturday and are not back at McMahon Stadium until July 12th, when they host Vancouver.