Roma adds women’s team
The St. Catharines Club Roma Wolves are looking for a few good women.
The Wolves, after a successful venture in the men’s division in League1 Ontario last summer, will be fielding a team in the L1O Women’s Premier Division for the upcoming 2022 season.
“We applied for it in the beginning,” said Carmine Provenzano, Club Roma’s L1O Program Head of Operations. “It was something we always wanted to do. They said start with the men and see how it goes.
“We wanted to create the whole package all along.”
Provenzano can’t wait to get started and admits there are some butterflies.
“We’re real excited and nervous as the same time because it’s our first year and we want to be competitive,” he said. “A lot of the women’s teams have been around League1 a bit.
“We want to be a young team and work hard and play strong and be a tough team to play. We’re looking at Brock and Niagara College. A lot of local kids have come to the tryouts so far.”
The Wolves have been holding preliminary tryouts with official tryouts expected April 1-3 when a team of 25 players will be selected.
“We’ve had 25-30 players at tryouts now and have been in contact with a lot of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) kids. They are still at school so we won’t see them until late April,” Provenzano said. “There has been some good interest.”
Provenzano feels the success of the men’s team last season will aid in putting together and running two programs this year.
“I think we have a great group that co-ordinated all of what happened last year,” he said. “That will help us in the long run. We know what to expect and there are some things we’re looking at. I think it helped us to have that shortened season last year.
“I’m proud of the whole group. We’re kicking ourselves because we could have won that league but we’re really happy with the way things went.”
The club has assembled a well-known coaching staff, led by Club Roma Soccer Technical Director Davide Massafra, who will serve as the inaugural head coach. Former Canadian Men’s National Team player Lucio Ianiero will join the staff as lead assistant. Ianiero was most recently head coach for the Brock University men’s and women’s soccer programs.
“Our coaching staff bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in the women’s game at an elite level,” Provenzano said. “They will give us a tremendous head start as we look to build a very strong team for our debut season.”
Regular season play is expected to begin the weekend of May 7, although no official schedule has been released.
The men’s team is expected to play 21 games with 10 at home while the women will play 12-14 games with six at home. The plan is to alternate home Friday night games between the men and the women’s teams.
“We’re treating the games nights the same,” Provenzano said. “Whatever you see at the men’s games you’ll see at the women’s — the PA, the music, all the buildup.
“We want to energize our team with enthusiastic crowds and make our home field a difficult place to play for visitors.”
For more information about St. Catharines Roma Wolves and upcoming open trial opportunities, e-mail Provenzano at carmine@stcromawolves.com or visit http://www.stcromawolves.com.
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