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Provincial Champs And International-Tier Talent To Feature In 2018 DeRo FA Squad

By League1 Ontario staff, 04/17/18, 12:30PM EDT

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Led by OUA coach-of-the-year, UOIT's Peyvand Mossavat, DeRo United FA Women will join League1 Ontario in 2018 with a dynamic partnership in place.

Merging the five-time provincial women’s amateur champions, GS United, with one of the highest ranked women's university teams in Ontario, DeRo will provide a clear pathway for east-GTA based female players eager to reach the highest levels of the game.  

"We had a lot kids come into our group a few years ago after the first REX program in Ontario folded," explained Mossavat. 

"Our intention was always to compete at the highest level and ironically in those five years when we were building and strengthening the organization, we won five back to back titles."

"So this year when there was an opportunity - I had moved to DeRo as academy director - we felt that there was a need for the girls in the program there to see that there was room to go to a higher level, that there is something to aspire to," he added. 

"We thought we'd start our own League1 team through the DeRo organization, given that we already have an existing pool of 40-50 players together at the senior level, including national team players like Deanne Rose and Vital Kats and former national team players like Sylvia Forbes etc."

"Because of that existing pool, we really felt strongly that this would be a good connection - connect the academy, the university team and a very successful community club. That's how it all came together." 

Created by former Canadian international and MLS star, Dwayne DeRosario, the DeRo Academy is based on a unique player development system, emphasizing the sort of touch, technique and game-time decision-making skills that made the academy's namesake such a successful player.  

"De Ro is a new academy and predominantly on the boys side," said Mossavat. 

"In terms of long-term objectives for us, we are looking to establish a girl's program commencing this September," he explained. 

"At the top of the pyramid in the organization, the girls will then have a University team, and a set of elite women's teams to aspire to as they get older."

With a substantial player pool in place, and a strong organizational vision to guide player development from youth through to senior play, Mossavat explains that the philosophy behind this new women's team is already remarkably well defined . 

"At the end of the day, we want to be a competitive group and provide opportunities for our players to play all year round," he summarized. 

"We're trying to provide an all-year round program for all the athletes, whether they are pre-, during or post- university. The League1 team fits into that vision."

"With our success at the national level until now, we are hoping we can bring another very competitive team into League1 and help improve the quality of competition even more. We feel we can add value there with our quality on-field and as an organization."

"Year one for us is going to be really learning about the level, trying to be as competitive and do as well as we can, but ideally we'd like to finish top three if we can." 

So who will League1 supporters get to see suiting up with the DeRo crest this summer? Mossavat provides an impressive preliminary list. 

"Obviously with our university based players at UOIT, we have a number of players that were in the OUA and USports All-Star lists," he revealed. "Katherine Koehler-Grassau is one and Kylie Bourdeleau is another one."

"We also have Deanne Rose, who is with the national team. Melanie Forbes, who was part of the Provincial program and is currently at Indiana University. Alyssa Nikkel, who is also a former Provincial team player. Erin King, who is captain of the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team. Taihjah Henderson, who was a third year student and an All-Canadian this year at UOIT, and Nicole Kozlova, who has already been playing internationally with the Ukraine."

"Our goal is to help all of these players, and more, to get to the next level."