Christopher Campoli, a third-year midfielder from Ontario Tech University, was named the U SPORTS player of the year in men's soccer, Wednesday night. Campoli, who hails from Woodbridge, Ontario, is the first Ridgeback to capture the Joe Johnson Memorial Trophy. In fact, he is the first Ontario Tech athlete in any sport to be named a national player of the year.
Other national award winners announced during the All-Canadian Banquet held in Kamloops, B.C., were UBC defender Eric Lajeunesse, who won the Lou Bilek Award for rookie of the year; Deven Doodnath of Nipissing, who won the Student-Athlete Community Service Award; and UNBC head coach Steve Simonson, who won Fox40 coach of the year honours.
The 2022 U SPORTS championship gets underway Thursday at Thompson Rivers University's Hillside Stadium and culminates Sunday with the national championship game at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. All 11 games from the eight-team tournament will be webcast live on CBC YouTube Channel, with select games on Gem and cbcsports.ca in English, and all games in French at USPORTS.ca.
JOE JOHNSON MEMORIAL TROPHY (player of the year): Christopher Campoli, Ontario Tech
Christopher Campoli, a third-year finance student, led the Ridgebacks offence this season with 13 goals in 11 matches. This put him atop the OUA and placed him second in the nation. Not only could he score, but Campoli also led the OUA in assists with six, while also finishing second in Canada.
This season he was recognized as the OUA East MVP, a first for the Ontario Tech soccer program. For the second time, he was named a first-team all-star, a feat he previously achieved in 2019. In 2021 and 2022, he was also selected in the first round of the CPL-U SPORTS Draft. Campoli went fourth overall in 2021, followed by going third overall in 2022 to the Halifax Wanderers.
Since joining the Ridgebacks in 2019 he has scored 31 goals over 35 matches, making him the program's all-time scoring leader.
"Chris has demonstrated tremendous passion, hard work and excellence on the field. He sets the standard for our players and assists them in being better on and off the field," said Ridgebacks head coach Ramin Mohammadi. "Chris regularly communicates with the coaching staff and seeks advice on how to improve. The way he strives for excellence is admirable. It is a privilege to coach a player of this calibre."
UNB forward Keji Adeniyi, Montreal midfielder Quentin Paumier and UNBC forwardMichael Henman were the other finalists for the award.
For the first time in program history, the Ridgebacks had men's soccer players named to the All-Canadian teams. Campoli and Jacob Begley were each named first team All-Canadians.
As centre back, Begley helped to keep opponents to only four goals in 12 conference matches, including nationally ranked teams to only three goals in three matches. This is also his third OUA all-star award, previously winning in 2019 and 2021.
