Coquitlam’s Polisi brothers have some unfinished business with the men’s soccer team at Simon Fraser University.
Both Marcello and Matteo have won individual honours in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) — Marcello was its player of the year a year ago, Matteo was voted freshman of the year in his inaugural campaign, and both were named to the all-west region all-star team. And the dynamic duo, who were reunited on Burnaby Mountain last season for the first time since they played together in the Coquitlam Metro-Ford minor soccer system, led the Clan to their second consecutive conference championship.
But their quest for a NCAA Division II championship ended abruptly when the Clan lost their first-round match to arch rival Cal Poly Pomona Mustangs, the same team that defeated SFU in the national semi finals in 2016.
Heading into this season, which begins Sept. 2, the Clan are again favoured to defend their conference championship according to a pre-season poll of GNAC coaches. They’re also ranked 20th in the country.
The Polisi brothers will be joined on the pitch by five other starters returning from last season, including Port Moody’s Kyle Jones, who received all-conference honours despite missing several games because of injury.
Coquitlam’s Michael North is back on defence and Anmore junior Jeff Cadman gained a season of valuable experience when he started 17 of the Clan’s 18 matches last season as a sophomore.
Terry Fox grad Aidan Bain is set competing with two freshman prospects to step into the keeper’s box as a starting sophomore with the graduation of Miguel Hof. Bain allowed just one goal and made 10 saves in 205 minutes of action last season.
The Clan’s bench will also have a strong Tri-City presence. with Coquitlam’s Lucas McIlveen and Quinn Dawson joined by freshman recruits Joey Mijaljevic, who won a BC high school championship with Dr. Charles Best secondary last season, and Chris Guerreiro, a Coquitlam defender out of the Vancouver Whitecaps’ residency program when it was in Burnaby.
The Clan’s preparation for the coming season included a 10-day tour of Norway in which they defeated a pair of club teams in exhibition matches, Staeback 2 and Locomotiv Oslo.
SFU will have a chance to avenge their loss to Cal Poly Pomona right off the hop as their first game of six consecutive matches on the road is against the Mustangs. The team’s first home game doesn’t come until Sept. 20, against Montana State Billings.
