For an Ottawa kid, Eric Lajeunesse has become quite the West Coast guy. The 19-year-old out of Louis Riel High School came cross-country to play soccer in the Canada West conference for the national-finalist UBC Thunderbirds and be named U Sports rookie of the year.
Lajeunesse will cross the strait even farther west next year to Pacific FC training camp after the Island-based Tridents selected the central defender sixth overall in the first round of the U Sports-Canadian Premier League draft.
“This means everything to me. Ever since I was a kid I dreamed of playing pro soccer. I’ve worked hard for this and it’s been quite a journey,” he said.
“To be selected by one of the best CPL teams is huge.”
The option is there thanks to an arrangement that allows U Sports players to attend CPL training camps and play in the pro CPL during the spring and summer without losing their university eligibility for the following September. If a U Sports player signs a CPL contract for entire seasons, he will forfeit a season of U Sports for every full CPL season played. It is considered an important arrangement for Canadian soccer that allows U Sports players several options and to get a first taste of the pro game while still in university.
The best U Sports grads have included Canada 2022 Qatar World Cup team selection Joel Waterman, former PFC player and Canada-capped MLS pro Lukas MacNaughton and HFX star Cory Bent.
“This is an invaluable opportunity for these players that was not there for them in the past before the CPL was formed [in 2019],” said PFC head coach James Merriman. “If these players don’t make it in the first year they are drafted, it doesn’t mean they won’t make it in future years. You see more and more players making the jump.”
The draft class of 2022 is still a work in progress. The drive is certainly there.
“My dream is to play at the next level,” said Lajeunesse. “I would love to get my education finished. But I am not afraid to commit to a pro contract.”
He seems to have all the tools.
“I believe I am composed and calm in central defence and have the technical ability to get out of tight situations,” said Lajeunesse, whose grandmother Judi Dyelle is a Metchosin potter.
Merriman said there is a reason PFC took Lajeunesse in the first round: “Eric has great size at six-foot-two and left-footed backs are hard to find. He is comfortable and composed on the ball and has great potential.”
PFC stayed in Canada West and took 21-year-old attack-oriented left-back Brandon Torresan out of the Trinity Western University Spartans with their second-round selection.
“This is the next step I have been dreaming about my whole life,” said Torresan, a native of North Vancouver. “I have played multiple positions and can be a holding left back but am versatile enough to drive forward and am possession focused.”
Merriman coached Torresan for three years in the Whitecaps Academy and has followed his progress with interest, jumping at the chance to draft him: “He is very technical and versatile and can play multiple positions.”
The expansion CPL club Vancouver FC received the first two selections and picked centre-back Anthony White first overall out of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and forward Ameer Kinani second overall out of Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson).
The rest of the selections went in reverse order of last season’s standings with the HFX Wanderers taking full-back Anthony Stolar third overall out of Cape Breton University, York United selecting Christopher Campoli fourth overall from Ontario Tech, Valour FC taking defender Guillaume Pianelli Balisoni fifth overall out of Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and PFC going with Lajeunesse sixth overall. Cavalry FC stayed with the hometown University of Calgary Dinos and selected defender William Omoreniye seventh overall. Atlético Ottawa looked to Canada West in taking midfielder Junior Agyekum eighth overall from the U Sports-champion Thompson Rivers University WolfPack. Fourth-year midfielder Miles Green from the McMaster University Marauders went ninth overall to 2022 CPL-champion Forge FC to close out the first round of the two-round draft.
