Sports

Photo: Contributed - Team BC

It’s a late Christmas present for the UBC Okanagan Heat men’s soccer team, but they’re not complaining.

The team has announced that Alex Lazazzera – a central midfielder who plays a solid all-around game in both attacking and defensive roles – has committed to the school and the team for the upcoming season.

“It is a bit of a coup to get a player of his quality,” says UBC Okanagan head coach Dante Zanatta.

“(We’ve) never had a player this involved in the National Training Centre before.  This signing shows the rest of BC and other places that we are recruiting these types of players, that this a good place to come based on the school and the soccer program.”

The 5’10, 150 pound player from Notre Dame Regional Secondary in Vancouver captained his school to a fourth place finish in the 2012 High School Provincial Championships and has already played under Coach Zanatta on the BC Provincial team this past summer.

“He is the type of player that we are looking for: very athletic, very skillful, has a great work rate, very hardworking midfielder that can run from 18 to 18,” explains Zanatta.

“I think he will be a great addition to our program. He can have a very strong career at UBC Okanagan.”

Lazazzera plans to enroll in the Human Kinetics program at UBC Okanagan and Coach Zanatta hopes details can be worked out so Alex can play for his Okanagan Challenge team this summer – a team that will boast many of his future Heat teammates.

The Challenge play in the men’s Premiere Division of the Pacific Coast Soccer League, with a season that runs from the end of April through July. The Heat usually begin their training camp just before the start of August with a season that opens in September.

-- With files from Cary Mellon, UBC Okanagan