Valour FC picks Cape Breton pair

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This article was published 12/11/2019 (2480 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Marcus Campanile and Charlie Waters won a lot of games together at Cape Breton University, and the duo hopes that trend continues when they arrive in Winnipeg.

The Canadian Premier League’s annual U Sports draft took place in Montreal on Monday night and Valour FC used both of their selections on members of the Cape Breton Capers.

It was a two-round snake draft with the order determined by the overall standings from the CPL’s inaugural season. Winnipeg’s professional soccer team’s struggles in Year 1 led to them having the second and 13th overall picks in the draft. It was the second year in a row Valour held the second overall pick; last year, they chose Winnipegger Dylan Carreiro, who went on to score two goals in 23 appearances.

HFX Wanderers FC selected midfielder/forward Cory Bent of Cape Breton first overall before Valour chose his teammate, Campanile, with the second selection. Campanile, a 23-year-old midfielder from Edinburgh, Scotland, has 18 goals in 45 appearances with the Capers. The midfielder has also played for the academy team at Aberdeen Football Club (Scottish Premier League) and in the Premier Development League with K-W United and the Calgary Foothills. Campanile won a national championship with Cape Breton in 2017.

Valour head coach and general manager Rob Gale said the toughness Campanile displayed this past weekend as he helped Cape Breton to a bronze-medal finish at nationals is a big reason why they felt he was the right fit for the Winnipeg club.

“He’s a competitor. He’s got the right attitude on the field,” Gale said in a phone interview with the Free Press. “He played in the U Sports final with a torn groin this past weekend. You could see he wasn’t at his best, but he didn’t break for the team. He put it all out there. Like we’ve said a couple of times this season, you can’t coach heart and he’s a player who’s got that already. We think he’ll be a good addition to compete for some spots for us.”

Many were surprised to see Waters still on the board when Valour snagged the forward with the second-last pick of the draft. In fact, the CanPL.ca Mock Draft had Waters going first overall to the Wanderers. The 22-year-old is coming off an impressive campaign in which he scored 18 goals in 21 appearances for the Capers. Waters, a native of Lancashire, England, was named the Atlantic University Sport playoff MVP this past season as he led the program to its fourth-straight league title. He was also a member of last year’s Cape Breton team that reached the final at nationals. Waters has spent time in Liverpool and Manchester United’s academies.

Gale said they came close to drafting Waters with the second overall pick, so when they saw he was still available at the end of the draft, they were thrilled.

“He’s got an excellent pedigree and good dynamics to him,” Gale said. “We had a backup plan in case, but he was right there. He easily could’ve been our first pick in the overall draft. We were absolutely delighted to get him.”

The draft is eligible for U Sports underclassmen who declare themselves available to be selected. Drafted players are allowed to play for their CPL teams until mid-August without losing any U Sports eligibility. Last year’s draft had several success stories, including FC Edmonton forward Easton Ongaro, a former member of the Alberta Golden Bears, who had 10 goals in 21 appearances in his first season as a pro. Edmonton’s starting goalie, Connor James, another former Golden Bear, also came from the draft, as well as Halifax’s No. 1 goalie, Christian Oxner from Saint Mary’s University.

“I think it’s a wonderful program that’s been created. It’s the first of its kind by any professional league,” Gale said. “The CPL and U Sports committee and coaches who have put this together in the past couple of years have really tried to do what’s going to benefit the players by providing professional playing opportunities while still being able to go to school, which is so important for these young guys.”

Gale said both Campanile and Waters are looking forward to coming to Winnipeg and he hopes they’ll be among the next group of U Sports athletes to make a big impact in the CPL.

“You never want to put too much pressure, but we’ve seen it this year. If they can settle and adapt to the rigours of professional soccer, the schedule and settle in that environment, and above all else show the right character, work rate, attitude — which we think both of these guys have as they’ve been in professional environments before — then absolutely they should be able to come in and make a difference.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

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