As a player with the Laurentian Voyageurs men’s soccer team (2004 – 2008), Tony Tagliafierro developed a solid grasp of program expectations for a squad that would draw from a much smaller student base than the likes of the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Queen’s University and many others.
Serving as an assistant coach to Carlo Castrechino for another decade and more thereafter, the competitive perspective of the graduate of St Charles College only grew wider. Now entering year four as “the man”, Tagliafierro is more than a little assertive in outlining the target, as he sees it, for 2025 and beyond.
“We want to make the playoffs,” said the man whose position became a full-time one, for the first time in program history, in the fall of 2024. “We believe that should be the norm for us, the low water mark.”
The achievement is hardly a given – nor is it the least bit out of the question.
A record of 4-5-3 in 2024 was enough to allow Laurentian to secure sixth place in the East Division and with it, the final playoff slot. Following a pair of two win seasons, the Voyageurs of one year ago were clearly in the mix in September (4-2-3), more than competitive even in their setbacks to Carleton (3-1) and Nipissing (1-0).
The wheels would fall off in October – three losses and outscored 21-4 – but a 4-1 post-season defeat at the hands of the (Carleton) Ravens at least showed signs of a young team beginning to mature.
Entering 2025, the Voyageurs are something of a dichotomy.
The veteran trio of Timi Aliu (5th year), Nico Patenaude (5th) and Jaiden Santo (4th) will be leaned upon heavily, that core enjoying a great deal of familiarity following up their OUA campaigns with back to back summers spent with the Sudbury Cyclones.
Beyond that comes a wave of second and third year talent along with a smattering of newcomers, some of whom are a few years removed from making the jump directly from high-school soccer.
“I think we added quite a bit of quality to our roster – and also added some older, more mature players who are going to come in and help us adapt to a very competitive season,” said Tagliafierro on the heels of a season-opening 2-1 loss to the Queen’s Gaels in Kingston.
Competitive indeed.
Due to the unbalanced 12-game OUA schedule, the Laurentian lads find themselves in a year where their home and home sets are against Ottawa, Toronto, TMU and Ontario Tech, none of whom missed the playoffs last year. They will face the three non-playoff teams from 2024 (Queen’s, Trent, RMC) just once each, though the last two of those are at home.
The Voyageurs also open their schedule with four straight road games. All of this renders the annual goal as stipulated by coach Tagliafierro just a little bit more challenging this time around.
“Even though we might be competitive, we may not get the result that we want,” said Tagliafierro.
Case in point: their game one loss to Queen’s.
“I thought we had the bulk of the chances, especially in the last 30 minutes,” said the coach. “We minimized a lot of their chances – but we need to be a bit more dangerous on our attack and capitalize on some opportunities.”
Neither of which will be easy as the team makes a lengthy cross-province trek to play Carleton (Ottawa) and Ontario Tech (Oshawa) this weekend. Still, Tagliafierro is insistent that he is not asking more from his troops than what they are fully capable of delivering.
“Recruiting has become a little easier based on the system that we play and how we have performed on the field,” he said. “We’ve gotten more recognition of late and I think we are more attractive now to incoming players who are already playing at a high level.”
“A big part of what we have learned as a staff is to take risks which will give us the best opportunity to win; understanding when we can take risks and push guys forward and make some of these bigger teams uncomfortable.”
“Ultimately, that is what’s going to give us any opportunity at success this year.”
Though things can always change, the Voyageurs starting eleven include sophomore goaltender Nate Shull, a GTA product who earned six starts last year as a rookie, as well as the back-line of Olly Sankar (2nd year), Jérémie Bourbonnais (3rd), Xavi Pimbu (3rd) and Theo Vieira, a native of Winnipeg who comes to L.U. after spending the 2023 season with the Memorial Sea-Hawks in New Brunswick.
The trio of Santo, Patenaude and Aliu will help solidify a midfield and attacking six that also featured Daniel Alexa (3rd), Joseph Martins (2nd) and freshman Mashood Babalola from Lagos.
Local talent in the supporting cast includes the likes of Blake Rosener, Carter Grenier, Sam Oduwele, Maliq Olanrewaju, Braxton Ragogna and keepers Matthew Bodnar and Théo Lefebvre.
Having quickly grasped the notion that he can only control so much from the sidelines, Tagliafierro has tried to capture an approach to coaching that likely would have appealed to him at the time when he still donned the shorts and cleats.
“We have focused on more player-led accountability,” he stated. “We can do pretty much anything with “X’s” and “O’s”, but once you recognize on the field that there is a problem, you have to be able to solve it.”
“We try and give these guys as many tools as possible to recognize the scenario, recognize the problem and know what the solutions are.”
Throw-in the opportunity to maintain year-round exposure to top-end soccer action in Sudbury with the local League1 a team now promoted to the Premier Division and one can see a pathway to the goals that Tagliafierro and company have set before the varsity athletes.
“Our relationship with the Cyclones allows some of these players to train and compete in a Sudbury environment, year-round,” said Tagliafierro. “It becomes attractive to remain here.”
And once here, the goal becomes clear.
