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Thursday, November 6, 2014

Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame welcomes 2014 Induction Class this Sunday


The Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame will welcome in the 2014 Induction Class this Sunday, which includes some of the biggest names in Canadian soccer.
The Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum, which is housed and operated by the Ontario Soccer Association at the Ontario Soccer Centre in Vaughan, ON, will be open to the media on Saturday, 8 November starting at 15.00 ET, to interview various inductees.
For media which are unable to attend, accommodations can be made for phone and Skype interviews.
The 2000 Men’s National Team, which captured the CONCACAF Gold Cup in one of the most notable achievements by a Canadian team to date, are part of this year’s induction class as the Team of Distinction. Canada danced its way through difficult competition including Mexico and in their final game of the tournament they downed Colombia 2-0 and qualified for the FIFA Confederations Cup the following year.
In the Pioneer category, the story of Harry Manson is one that few may know, but he had a tremendous impact on the First Nations in the late 1800s. The most outstanding indigenous player of the time Manson, known as Xul-si-malt (One-who-leaves-his-mark), led his team from Nanaimo to the first B.C. provincial championship to ever be won by Indigenous players.
Isabelle Morneau and Geri Donnelly, two Canadian women’s national team players, who found success at the highest levels of the game, are part of this year’s Induction Class in the Player category. Also named in the player category is Carmine Marcantonio who was a member of the famed Metros-Croatia team that won the NASL champions in 1976.
Being recognized as part of this year’s Induction Class are Builders Chris Bennett and Hector Vergara.
Organizations of Distinction being recognized are the Edmonton Angels, who won the Jubilee Trophy an incredible nine times and The Robbie Tournament, which has helped produced national team players like Dwayne De Rosario, Diana Matheson and Jonelle Filigno.
Read full biographies of the Induction Class here.
The Hall of Fame Induction Banquet will be held at Chateau Le Jardin Conference and Event Venue on 9 November, 2014. Tickets are still available to the public.
For more information on media access or to arrange remote interviews, please contact:
Stephanie Geosits
Director of Marketing and Communication, Ontario Soccer Association
905.264.9390 x275
c: 6472287667
e: sgeosits@soccer.on.ca
Ben Rycroft
Manager of Communications, Ontario Soccer Association
905.264.9390 ext 255
c: 647-237-4079
e: brycroft@soccer.on.ca
 

Inductees
        THE SOCCER HALL OF FAME IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
                             THE 2014 INDUCTION CLASS

PLAYERS:

GERI DONNELLYGeri Donnelly made her international debut at 21-years-old for Canada against the United States in 1986 in Blaine, Minnesota and scored twice in Canada's 2-1 win - the first goals ever scored by Canada's national women's team.  She went on to score three times against the USSR in 1990, and against Jamaica in 1994.  At the 1995 FIFA World Cup in Sweden Geri scored twice, once against England and once against Nigeria.  She got another goal in 1999 against Australia and also played in the 1999 FIFA World Cup in the U.S. Donnelly began playing when women's soccer and the national team were in their infancy.  She began her club career with Vancouver Angels in the Women's Premier Soccer League and remained with the club when they moved to the W-League and were amalgamated with the Vancouver Whitecaps.  Over the course of her playing career she played for Coquitlam Strikers when they won the national championship in 1990 and 1994 and again with Surrey United when they won in 2006.  She ended her playing career in 2009 after guiding Surrey United to six consecutive provincial titles.  Geri Donnelly was the Women's Player of the Year in 1996 and 1999 and named to Canada's all-time women's team in 2012.

CARMINE MARCANTONIO
Carmine first attracted national attention as a member of the famed Toronto Metro-Croatia team that won the NASL Championship in 1976.  He appeared in 23 games that year.  However, he missed the 1977 NASL season before signing for Washington Diplomats in 1978.  Following three outstanding years in Washington he moved on to play for the  Montreal Manic from 1981 to 1983 and when that franchise folded, played the 1984 season for the New York Cosmos.  He played a total of 173 regular season games in the NASL and scored six goals.  He also played in 18 playoff games.  Upon retirement he became a soccer analyst commenting on the Italian league games televised on Sunday morning's in Toronto.


ISABELLE MORNEAU
Isabelle Morneau played 87 times for Canada making her debut in 1985 against France.  She was a member of the women's national team at the 1999 and 2003 FIFA World Cups in the U.S. and played in all five games at the 2000 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup.  She also played for Canada in the 2006 CONCACAF Gold Cup final.  Her career includes participation in numerous tournaments such as the Algarve Cup and the Nike Cup.  She played college soccer at the University of Nebraska from 1996 to 1999.  She was the NSCAA Second Team All-America as a defender in 1998 and 1999.  She played pro soccer in the W-League for Ottawa Fury in 2003, Montreal Xtreeme in 2004 and Laval Cometes in 2006 and 2007.

BUILDERS:
CHRIS BENNETT
Chris Bennett was a member of the Canadian Olympic and World Cup teams between 1973 and 1977.  He had six international caps and four Olympic appearances during that time.  He made 31 appearances in the original NASL, playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders and the Memphis rogues.  His playing days over he turned to coaching and was the assistant coach of the Canadian National U-17 team in 1989, Canadian National U-20 team from 1993 to 1997, the interim assistant coach of the Men's World Cup team in 1988, the assistant coach of the Pan American Games team in 1999, the assistant coach of the Men's Olympic team from 1998 - 2000 and Head Coach of the National U-15 team in 1999.  In 1996, as the assistant coach with the National U-20 team, he won the Gold Medal at the CONCACAF finals in Mexico.  In 2007 he was head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps Women's team that was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame as champions of the North American Women's League.



HECTOR VERGARA
Hector Vergara played soccer competitively for 10 years and recreationally for 30 years before returning his focus on the game to officiating.  Vergara began as an official in 1983 and was rewarded for his efforts by being an assistant referee at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan, the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.  In addition he was an assist referee at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.  Hector spent 19 years on the FIFA referee's list and was involved in 11 FIFA competitions.  He claimed the record for the most World Cup games as a referee/assistant referee with 14 when he took the field July 10, 2010.  Vergara is currently the Executive Director of the Manitoba Soccer Association.



PIONEER:

HARRY MANSON (Xul-si-malt)
The story of First Nation's soccer player Harry Manson (Xul-si-malt) and his team, the Nanimo Indian Warriors, begins in the early 1890's at a time when interest in soccer was rapidly growing in the coal-producing region around the town of Nanaimo on eastern Vancouver Island.  The most outstanding of the indigenous players was Xul-si-malt (One-who-leaves-his-mark), born in 1879, who was compelled at an early age to assume the English name "Harry Manson".  At the age of 18 he made his competitive debut in a heated rivalry between the Nanaimo Thistles and Snuneymuxw.  The Nanaimo Thistles recruited him full-time into their line up and they reached the final of the British Columbia Intermediate Challenge Cup against Victoria YMCA.  Two years later, Manson was convinced that they had the necessary talent to compete against the best intermediate teams in B.C. and formally organized the Nanaimo Indian Wanderers AFC.  Mansons' athletic abilities and his leadership qualities on the pitch earned him the captaincy of the Wanderers.  In 1902, Nanaimo would form an all-star team to compete for the senior Challenge Cup.  Eventually Nanaimo triumphed and Manson and his friends became the first indigenous players to win a B.C. Provincial Championship.

ORGANIZATIONS OF DISTINCTION:
EDMONTON ANGELS
One of the most outstanding women's soccer organizations in Canadian soccer history, the Edmonton Angels won the national women's championship - the Jubilee Shield - an incredible nine times, including six out of the first seven played.  The Angels won the first championship ever competed for by beating London Concorde 4-0 in Etobiocoke, Ontario in 1982.  Wins over top competition followed, including: beating Halifax Econocolor by 6-0 in 1983, beating James Bay from B.C. by 1-0 in 1984, beating Richmond Kornerkicks by 1-0 in 1985 and the Kornerkicks again by 3-2 in 1986.  Coquitlam United were next with a 2-1 win in 1988, before the seventh title was won against Victoria Gorge United by beating them 5-1 in 1995.  More titles followed in 1999 and 2000 against U.B.C. Alumni.  Many outstanding players formed the Angels lineup over these years, including: Hall of Famers Tracy David, Joan McEachern, Janine Holland and coach Stuart Brown.

THE ROBBIE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH TOURNAMENT
The Robbie International Youth Tournament has been played in Scarborough, Ontario every year since 1967, and has involved both male and female teams from all over Canada, the world and in every age group.  The tournament was started by the Scarborough Soccer Association and they have run it every year for over 40 years.  Ten teams participated in the first tournament,  The Robbie has hosted well over 6,000 teams and over 100,000 players and has raised $1 million dollars that has been donated to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  The Robbie Tournament has seen the likes of Toronto FC's Dwayne De Rosario and Scarborough's Jonathan De Guzman as well as National Women's Soccer League players and Olympians Diana Matheson and Jonelle Filigno.


TEAM OF DISTINCTION:

2000 MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM - CONCACAF GOLD CUP WINNERS
Canada chalked up what is probably its most notable international triumph in 2000 by winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup in California.  Canada opened the competition by holding Costa Rica to a 2-2 tie at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.  A second tie this time against South Korea followed in the Los Angeles Coliseum.  Back in San Diego for the third game, Canada upset Mexico 2-1 on a golden goal scored by Richard Hastings.  The win assured Canada of a semifinal game against Trinidad and Tobago with Mark Watson scoring the winning goal in the 68th minute.  Canada would meet the South American nation, Colombia with the Canucks again prevailing against the odds and winning 2-0 on goals from Jason DeVos and Carlo Corazzin.  The win qualified the team for the FIFA Confederations Cup in Korea/Japan in 2001.

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