Wolves ready for fourth season
St. Catharines Club Roma Wolves head coach Federico Turriziani has high hopes for the upcoming League1 season.
The St. Catharines Club Roma Wolves are eager to turn the page and establish a new identity after finishing with a 6-12-2 last season in League1.
The Wolves have already signed 19 players for the upcoming season and hope to add another half dozen or so before opening the season Sunday, April 21 at Brock with a Cup game at 3 p.m.
“There are a couple of positions we are looking at specifically and we’re looking for some younger players to have, 2004 and down,” Roma’s technical director of soccer Davide Massafra said. “At this point, we are confident in the roster we have built is competitive and there is a great atmosphere from the boys to have a great season together.”
The Wolves are bringing back a handful of players from last season as well as a group of players from the 2022 campaign.
“The focus is to bring the players who were in this club in the past that are looking at the change of atmosphere and leadership in the club and glad to be back and work with us,” Massafra said. “We want to make sure the season is special and obviously we want to get the results on the field and we really want to focus on how to train them and make them feel special and get them to the next level, wherever that is.”
Mark Bolton, Club Roma’s general manager, soccer operations, is looking forward to the club’s fourth season at the League1 level.
“We worked very hard at changing the culture here and creating a good culture. With the boys all coming back, you can see it in their eyes, they are all excited and can’t wait to hit the field,” he said.
Bolton feels local players are key for Roma.
“When we set out to get the licence from League1, our goal was to provide a place for the local players to play and we kind of got away from that a little bit but we’ve been able to refocus and we’ve noticed this year especially we are getting a lot of those original players back,” he said. “Strategically, that’s the goal for us, to be able to provide that and with the talent we have in this area we think we can be pretty competitive.”
Head coach Federico Turriziani arrived back in St. Catharines this week from a winter in his native Italy. He will be assisted this season by Massafra, Simon Doyle and Emanuele Piombarolo, Roma’s technical director of the high performance program.
“I think we are going to grow like a team and like a program,” Turriziani said. “The last two years for us, it was tough at times to compete with some of the important teams that had more history than us. I think every year we’re getting better and the new players that are back, they know what we do here is important.”
The Wolves will play in the League1 Championship Division with the hope of competing for the first positions in order to be promoted to the Premier Division.
“We have players who have played in the Premier League who have decided to play with us in the Championship Division and that makes us very proud because that means our program is strong,” Turriziani said. “We’re going to do our best to be competitive for the first positions and during the season we will see what we can do. Our goal is of course to compete for the first positions.
“We are happy with what we have done. Even last season, we finished strong and it makes me excited.”
Toronto Football Club (TFC) has a team in the Championship Division.
“That gives a lot of credibility to the league,” Turriziani said. “They are young but they are professionals. They train every day so they should be a strong team.”
Roma will be holding final tryouts for all teams Friday from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Sunday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Brock University before setting their rosters.
“These three weeks are very important. We will work hard and I hope the weather helps us to spend time on the pitch,” Turriziani said.
Following are the players signed for the League1 team.
Goaltenders
Simon Grande, new.
Sean Darracott, back from 2022.
Defenders
Nathan Toltl, returning from last season.
Luca Ragagnin, back from 2022.
Victor Kariuki, returning last season.
Connor Carroll, new.
Matteo Muza, returning last season.
Nolan Bosetti, back from 2022.
Daniel Cavalluzzo, back from 2022.
Midfielders
Nicholas Andreola (captain), returning from last season.
Michael Fernandez, back from 2022.
Adam Lila, back from last season.
Eric Woodland, returning from last season.
Martin Lopes, new.
Anthony Malerba, new.
Forwards
Michael Solomon, returning.
Jake Kelly, returning.
Mason Petrucci, new.
Hamza Salman, new.
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