After the Clan finished their 2011 season ranked as the best team in the NCAA Division II, the team set out to improve their already talented roster. Having already recruited four local products last month, the Clan inked four more talents, and dipped into the international pool to do so.
The four new recruits are Alex Rowley and Jason Van Blerk, both B.C. products, as well as Glendale’s Colby Liston and Brazil’s Renan Rebelatto.
Rowley and Van Blerk both participated in the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program, preparing the duo brilliantly for elite collegiate soccer. Rowley comes to SFU with the reputation of being a tenacious, persistent midfielder, and brings quite a resume with him: he was an integral member of the B.C. provincial program between 2006 and 2009.
“Alex is a blue-collar midfielder. He is willing to do a lot of the dirty work to help the players around him, but he also has the finesse to get us playing,” said head coach Alan Koch. And as key as Rowley will be on the offensive side of the ball, his Whitecaps teammate will look to be a rock on the defensive end moving forward.
“Jason is a versatile defender who can play centrally or as a full-back,” added Koch. “He is a tough, uncompromising defender that has the size, speed, and strength to be a major player in the NCAA.”
With these two joining the four earlier recruits, the Clan will have a distinct British Columbian feel in the coming seasons, but that’s not to take away from the international talent the team has recruited this year.
Liston was the captain of his Phoenix College team last season, and the big forward potted 14 goals along the way, earning all-conference honours in the process.
“[He’s] a big intimidating striker,” said Koch of Liston. “Not only does he have the physical attributes, but he scores goals and has the ability to play other players in. He is a similar type of player to Carlo Basso and I look forward to seeing them compete and feed off of each other.”
His international counterpart Rebelatto, while a defender, is very offense-oriented as well. The left back, the now-former captain of Western Texas College, scored four goals last season en route to being named the local defender of the year.
“Renan is an attack-minded full-back,” said Koch. “He is technically sound, has a tenacious spirit, and already has two years of college soccer under his belt.” The Clan have graduated just four seniors this year, but with a bunch of new faces, hat collegiate experience shared by both Liston and Rebelatto will prove invaluable when more players move on from the program. With any luck, the two will have their success rub off on the newcomers. They won’t be the only ones relied on for that however, as they will take some adjusting themselves. That said, the Clan have the pieces in place right now to be successful short term and are clearly on the right track to maintaining that reputation. That said, these four recruits will likely be given every opportunity to be part of that success right off the hop.
“We have truly strengthened this recruiting class with these four young lads,” said Koch. “All of them are able to come in and compete for playing time immediately. We have addressed some positional needs and added some much needed competition for certain positions.”
Any time you can improve upon an already deep and talented roster can’t be seen as anything but a positive.
