Mossavat named head coach of team Canada OTTAWA – Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Thursday the coaching staffs that will lead Canada in soccer at the 2015 Summer Universiade in South Korea.
The 28
th world university summer games are set for July 3 to 14 in Gwangju, which was one of the host cities for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
On the women's side,
Peyvand Mossavat from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology has been appointed head coach of the red and white squad and will be joined on the sidelines by assistant coach Jose-Luis Valdes from McGill University and team leader Liz Jepsen from the University of Alberta.
Mossavat is in his third season at the helm of UOIT's women's program and previously served as head coach at Ryerson and York. Over the years, he has guided numerous Ontario provincial teams and has been an assistant coach with the women's National Training Centre.
A remarkable player in his own right, Mossavat is a former member of the Canadian Olympic program and himself competed at the FISU Games in 1993 in Buffalo. At the professional level, he was a five-time all-star in the Canadian Soccer League.
Jepsen also has previous Universiade experience as Canada's head coach in 2013 in Russia and as an assistant in 2009 in Serbia.
"I am honoured and quite excited to lead the Canadian women's team. Jose and Liz bring a wealth of experience to this group and collectively we will work hard to represent Canada and CIS well at this international competition," said Mossavat, who was named the OUA East coach of the year in 2007 and merited the same honour in the OUA West in 2012. "Our number one priority would be to identify the strongest CIS athletes who are ready to compete at the international level and to prepare them for Korea next summer."
Mossavat becomes the first individual from UOIT to represent Canada at the FISU games.
"Everyone at UOIT is excited that Peyvand has been selected to represent Team Canada at the FISU games," said
Scott Barker, Manager of Intercollegiate Athletics at UOIT. "Peyvand has been a tremendous mentor to our student-athletes at UOIT and I am thrilled to see him bring the same passion to the national team. I am confident that he will lead the team to positive results in Korea."
In ten years coaching in the OUA prior to UOIT, his student-athletes won over 30 OUA/CIS awards. Fifteen of his athletes also won academic All-Canadian awards under his direction and vision for academic success.
Mossavat holds a USSF National A licence and works at the national training centre of Ontario as the head coach of the U14 girls provincial team. In 2012, he coached the U15 girls provincial team to a national championship title in Halifax, N.S. Locally, he is the Oshawa Turul soccer club head coach where he is responsible for coaching and player development at the grassroots and elite level.
In men's competition, Keith Mason and Don Ferguson, both from the University of Guelph, will act as Team Canada head coach and team leader, respectively. Rounding out the staff will be assistant coaches Steve Hart from the University of Windsor and Cam Leverman from MacEwan University.
It will be the third tour of duty at the world university games for Mason, who is in his 15
th season leading the Guelph Gryphons. He was general manager of the men's contingent in 2003, when the Summer Universiade were first staged in South Korea (Daegu), and assistant coach in 2011 in China.
Hart will work with his OUA colleague Mason at the FISU Games for the second time in four years. The Windsor mentor was head coach of the Canadian entry in 2011.
"I'm very excited about the challenge ahead. I'm looking forward to working with the best players and some of the top coaches that CIS has to offer from all across Canada," said Mason, the 2011 CIS coach of the year. "Our goal is to make the top 8 and hopefully improve on the excellent results from 2013."
At the 2013 Summer Universiade, the Canadian women finished 10
th out of 12 teams, while the men placed seventh out of 15 countries.
Canada's best-ever results at the FISU competition are a pair of fifth-place finishes on the women's side (1993, 2011) and a fourth position by the men in 2007 in Bangkok.
The all-CIS Canadian rosters for the Gwandju Games will be announced in the spring of 2015.
CANADA'S SOCCER STAFFS FOR 2015 UNIVERSIADE:
Women
Head coach:
Peyvand Mossavat (University of Ontario Institute of Technology - UOIT)
Assistant coach: Jose-Luis Valdes (McGill University)
Team leader: Liz Jepsen (University of Alberta)
Men
Head coach: Keith Mason (University of Guelph)
Assistant coach: Steve Hart (University of Windsor)
Assistant coach: Cam Leverman (MacEwan University)
Team leader: Don Ferguson (University of Guelph)
CANADA'S ALL-TIME UNIVERSIADE RESULTS IN SOCCER:
Women
2013 (Kazan, Russia): 10
th / 12 teams
2011 (Shenzhen, China): 5
th / 12
2009 (Belgrade, Serbia): 7
th / 16
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): 10
th / 16
2005 (Izmir, Turkey): 5
th / 12
2003 (Daegu, South Korea): 10
th / 12
2001 (Beijing, China): 11
th / 12
1993 (Buffalo, USA): 5
th / 6
Women's soccer made its Universiade debut as a demonstration sport at the 1993 Buffalo Games, when the tournament was held in Hamilton, Ont. The sport returned as an official Universiade discipline in 2001. Men
2013 (Kazan, Russia): 7
th / 15 teams
2011 (Shenzhen, China): 9
th / 16
2009 (Belgrade, Serbia): 12
th / 16
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): 4
th / 16
2003 (Daegu, South Korea): 15
th / 16
1995 (Fukuoka, Japan): 16
th / 16
1993 (Buffalo, USA): 16
th / 16
1979 (Mexico City, Mexico): 12
th / 24
Canada did not qualify for the Universiade men's soccer tournament in 1985, 1987, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2005... Following its debut in 1979, men's soccer wasn't part of the Universiade program in 1981, 1983 and 1989. About the 2015 Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport competition that takes place every two years. The event, which is second only to the Olympics in number of participating athletes and countries, is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the games.
The 2015 Summer Universiade will feature 13 compulsory sports and 8 optional sports. Compulsory sports: athletics, basketball, fencing, football (soccer), artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, swimming, diving, water polo, tennis, volleyball, judo, table tennis. Optional sports: archery, badminton, baseball, golf, handball, rowing, sport shooting, taekwondo. Official website:
www.gwangju2015.com About Canadian Interuniversity Sport Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 11,500 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 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:
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/CIS_SIC Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/cissportsYouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/universitysport -CIS-
For more information:
Michel Bélanger
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Off: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
belanger@universitysport.ca
