2011 Summer Universiade
CIS champions dominate Canada’s men’s soccer

OTTAWA (CIS) – Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Thursday the 20 student-athletes who will represent Canada in men’s soccer at the 26th Summer Universiade in August in Shenzhen, China.

2011 Summer Universiade website: http://www.sz2011.org/Universiade
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer 

The Canadian roster is comprised of 18 standouts from CIS and a pair from the NCAA. The reigning CIS champion York University Lions dominate the selection with five players, while three come from the UBC Thunderbirds, who claimed CIS silver last fall.

Four players return from the team that finished a 12th - out of 16 – at the last world university games in 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia. Returnees include UBC defender Jason Gill of Abbotsford, B.C., York defender Jamaal Smith of Mississauga, Ont., as well as Saskatchewan teammates Josh Northey, a midfielder from Saskatoon, and Jerson Barandica Hamilton, a Mexican-born forward from Saskatoon.

 “The challenge to select the squad started last November at the CIS national championship in Toronto and then took us coast to coast to look at over 100 players,” says University of Windsor sideline boss Steve Hart, who was announced as Team Canada’s head coach in April of 2010. “To create a successful, well-rounded squad, we broke the team down and thoroughly examined each individual position and set out to find the best players to fill the role. The coaching staff strongly believes that our selection has those top 20 university athletes necessary to get the job done.”

Goalkeepers JP Crescenzi, a Calgary native and U of C student, and Sotiri Varlokostas, a York student from Toronto, will be in charge of protecting the Canadian net in Shenzhen.

Joining Gill and Smith in the backfield are Alberta teammates Harman Braich and Cameron Schmidt, both of Edmonton, York’s Dominic Antonini of Winnipeg, Niagara’s Anthony DiBiase of Richmond Hill, Ont., and St. Francis Xavier’s Stephen Lumley of Mississauga.

Northey is joined at midfield by McGill’s Olivier Babineau of Montreal, StFX’s AJ Gray of Brampton, Ont., Niagara’s Carl Haworth of Barrie, Ont., UBC’s Navid Mashinchi of Port Moody, B.C., Windsor’s Massimo Megna of Calgary, and York’s Ilya Orlov of Woodbridge, Ont.

In addition to Barandica Hamilton, the forwards who hope to put Canada on the scoreboard are UBC’s Gagandeep Dosanjh of Abbotsford, Guelph’s Robbie Murphy of Ottawa, as well as York’s Adrian Pena of Woodbridge.

A first-team all-Canadian in 2010, Pena was named CIS championship MVP last fall after he scored all four York goals at the tournament to lead the Lions to their second national title in three years.

Gill, Smith, Braich and Northey were also CIS all-Canadians last season.

In China, Canada will compete in the preliminary round in Pool D against Great Britain, Ghana and reigning Universiade bronze medalist Japan. A total of 16 countries are entered in the tournament.

The defending Universiade champion is the Ukraine, which edged the Canadians 2-1 in pool play in 2009. The Ukrainians beat Italy in the gold-medal final.

In six previous world university games appearances, Canada’s best result is a fourth-place finish in 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, which marked the first time the Red and White advanced to the medal round.

“Our expectations are high but realistic,” says Hart. “Our first team goal is to advance from the group stages. Great Britain and Ghana will provide strong opposition, as will Japan, who has a rich history in this tournament. After that, we will take each game as it comes and do our best to represent Canada on the world soccer stage. Everyone is excited and honoured to be a part of the FISU Games.”

Rounding out the team’s support staff are assistant coach Keith Mason and team leader Brandon Rees, both from the University of Guelph, and athletic therapist Kelly Scott.

Mason is the only staff member with previous Universiade experience. He was Canada’s men’s soccer team leader in 2003 in Daegu, South Korea.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER   

Position           Name                          University         Hometown     
Goalkeeper     JP Crescenzi               Calgary            Calgary, Alta.
Goalkeeper     Sotiri Varlokostas        York                 Toronto, Ont.
Defender         Dominic Antonini         York                 Winnipeg, Man.
Defender         Harman Braich            Alberta             Edmonton, Alta.
Defender         Anthony DiBiase         Niagara            Richmond Hill, Ont.
Defender         Jason Gill                     UBC                 Abbotsford, B.C.
Defender        Stephen Lumley          StFX                 Mississauga, Ont.
Defender         Cameron Schmidt       Alberta             Edmonton, Alta.
Defender         Jamaal Smith               York                 Mississauga, Ont.
Midfielder        Olivier Babineau          McGill              Montreal, Que.
Midfielder        AJ Gray                        StFX                 Brampton, Ont.
Midfielder        Carl Haworth                Niagara           Barrie, Ont.
Midfielder        Navid Mashinchi          UBC                 Port Moody, B.C.
Midfielder        Massimo Megna          Windsor           Calgary, Alta.
Midfielder        Josh Northey                Saskatchewan  Saskatoon, Sask.
Midfielder        Ilya Orlov                        York                  Woodbridge, Ont.
Forward           Jerson Barandica Hamilton  Saskatchewan  Saskatoon, Sask.
Forward           Gagandeep Dosanjh   UBC                Abbotsford, B.C.
Forward           Robbie Murphy             Guelph             Ottawa, Ont.
Forward           Adrian Pena                  York                  Woodbridge, Ont.

STAFF                                                                                                
Position                        Name                          University         Hometown
Head coach                 Steve Hart                    Windsor           Liverpool, England                 
Assistant coach          Keith Mason                Guelph             West Bromwich, England
Team leader                Brandon Rees            Guelph             Brantford, Ont.
Athletic therapist         Kelly Scott                       -                        -

UNIVERSIADE POOLS:
The Universiade men’s soccer tournament will run from August 11-22. The detailed schedule will be announced at a later date.

Pool A: China, South Korea, Colombia, South Africa
Pool B: Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, Malaysia
Pool C: Italy, Czech Republic, Uruguay, Thailand
Pool D: Japan, Great Britain, CANADA, Ghana

CANADA’S RESULTS IN MEN’S SOCCER AT THE UNIVERSIADE:

2009 (Belgrade, Serbia): 12th / 16 teams
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): 4th / 16
2003 (Daegu, South Korea): 15th / 16
1995 (Fukuoka, Japan): 16th / 16
1993 (Buffalo, USA): 16th / 16
1979 (Mexico City, Mexico): 12th / 24
 
About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Fifty-two universities, 10,000 student-athletes and 550 coaches vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca.