OTTAWA (CIS) – Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Tuesday the 19 student-athletes who will represent Canada in men’s soccer at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia (July 6-17).

Summer Universiade website: www.kazan2013.com/en
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer/2013 

The Canadian roster is comprised of 18 CIS standouts and one NCAA all-star. The team was selected following three open camps held this winter in Toronto (Feb. 22-24), Vancouver (March 1-3) and Edmonton (March 4-5). A total of 58 players attended the tryouts.

As announced last June, Pat Raimondo from the University of Montreal will be Team Canada’s head coach at the 27th world university games, while Western’s Rock Basacco and Concordia’s Vladimir Pavlicik, will act as assistant coach and team manager, respectively. Randy Bardock from Lethbridge has since been added to the staff and will also assist Raimondo on the sidelines.

Emmanuelle Pilon, a physiotherapist from Montreal, rounds out the support personnel.

“I’m proud to get another opportunity to coach this team. I’m really happy with the quality of the staff and very excited to work with this special group of 20 student-athletes,” said Raimondo, who will make his fourth trip to the Universiade and his second as head coach.

In 2007, the two-time CIS coach of the year led Canada to its best-ever result at the FISU Games, a fourth-place finish in Bangkok, Thailand, following a heartbreaking penalty kicks loss to the host country in the bronze-medal match. It remains the highest finish in history for any men’s Canadian team at a FIFA-ran event.  

Two players return from the 2011 squad that finished ninth out of 16 teams at the Universiade tournament in Shenzhen, China. They are Guelph striker Robbie Murphy and York goalkeeper Sotiri Varlokostas.

Buffalo keeper Jonathan Viscosi will also protect the Canadian net in Kazan, with help from defenders Dominic Bell of Western, Paul Clerc of UBC, Nafi Dicko-Raynauld of Laval, Niko Saler of Alberta, as well as Montreal teammates Alexandre Haddad and Eduardo Herrera.

Midfielders include Western’s Eric Amato, Toronto’s Dylan Bams, Carleton’s Joey Kewin, Lethbridge’s Matt Medoruma, Montreal’s Colin Parenteau-Michon, UBC’s Marco Visintin, as well as the Alberta duo of Andrew Hood and Marcus Johnstone.

Strikers Mario Kovacevic of Toronto and Mark Reilly of McMaster join Murphy up front.

Murphy was the CIS player of the year in 2011 and the country’s top freshman back in 2009. Johnstone (2010), Haddad (2011) and Saler (2012) are also former CIS rookies of the year.

Johnstone and Dicko-Raynauld were voted first-team all-Canadians last fall, while Clerc and Visintin helped UBC capture the CIS national title.

In Russia, the Canadians will compete in the preliminary round in Pool D against France (July 5), Peru (July 8) and the reigning Universiade bronze medallists from Brazil (July 10). The gold-medal final of the 16-team competition is scheduled for July 16.

Canada’s ninth-place finish in 2011 was the second best result in program history behind the historic fourth position from 2007.

The Canucks placed fourth in their group in China after dropping their first two matches against Great Britain and Japan, the two countries which ended up meeting in the tournament final, with Japan prevailing 2-0. Canada rebounded with three wins and a draw in its final four contests to end the tourney with a 3-2-1 overall record.

TEAM CANADA ROSTER 
 
Position  Name   University Hometown 

Goalkeeper Sotiri Varlokostas York  Toronto, Ont.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Viscosi Buffalo  Ottawa, Ont.
Defender Dominic Bell  Western Waterloo, Ont.
Defender Paul Clerc  UBC  Coquitlam, B.C.
Defender Nafi Dicko-Raynauld Laval  Gatineau, Que.
Defender Alexandre Haddad Montreal Montreal, Que.
Defender Eduardo Herrera Montreal Montreal, Que.
Defender Niko Saler  Alberta  Lethbridge, Alta.
Midfielder Eric Amato  Western Toronto, Ont.
Midfielder Dylan Bams  Toronto  Fanny Bay, B.C.
Midfielder Andrew Hood  Alberta  Calgary, Alta.
Midfielder Marcus Johnstone Alberta  Edmonton, Alta.
Midfielder Joey Kewin  Carleton London, Ont.
Midfielder Matt Medoruma  Lethbridge Lethbridge, Alta.
Midfielder Colin Parenteau-Michon  Montreal Montreal, Que.
Midfielder Marco Visintin  UBC  Vancouver, B.C.
Striker  Mario Kovacevic Toronto  Woodbridge, Ont.
Striker  Robbie Murphy  Guelph  Ottawa, Ont.
Striker  Mark Reilly  McMaster Hamilton, Ont.

STAFF        

Position   Name   University Hometown

Head coach  Pat Raimondo  Montreal Pointe-Claire, Que.  
Assistant coach  Rock Basacco  Western London, Ont.
Assistant coach   Randy Bardock  Lethbridge Lethbridge, Alta.
Team leader  Vladimir Pavlicik Concordia Guelph, Ont.
Physiotherapist  Emmanuelle Pilon Montreal Montreal, Que.

UNIVERSIADE POOLS & SCHEDULE:
 
Pool A: Russia, China, Mexico, Ireland
Pool B: Japan, Uruguay, Ukraine, Turkey
Pool C: Great Britain, Italy, Malaysia, Algeria
Pool D: Brazil, CANADA, France, Peru

July 5: Canada vs. France
July 8: Canada vs. Peru
July 10: Canada vs. Brazil
July 12-16: Placement matches
July 16: Tournament final

CANADA’S RESULTS IN MEN’S SOCCER AT THE UNIVERSIADE:
 
2011 (Shenzhen, China): 9th / 16 teams
2009 (Belgrade, Serbia): 12th / 16
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. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 54 universities and four regional associations 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 or follow us on:

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-CIS-