Francesco Cavicchia is the newest member of the Medicine Hat College Rattlers soccer teams, and also the youngest – by about 17 years.
Head coach Robert Cavicchia had to fly home to Toronto last week when wife Pauline went into labour, missing the weekend’s games but adding a baby boy to the family instead.
“They’re coming here next month which is awesome, I’m really looking forward to that,” said Robert, already back in the Gas City preparing for some key road games this weekend. “It’s been challenging at times, having them there while I’m here.
“The messages that have come in, emails, phone calls, and the players as well… I feel like the culture here is really strong, it’s really positive. We want the best for players, for each other, for our families.”
It’s the second child for the couple, who also have a girl, Chiara. Their new family in Medicine Hat was thrilled too, and played like it – the women beat Ambrose 5-0 and the men 2-0 on Friday, then both teams earned 1-1 draws with Manitoba’s Canadian Mennonite University Saturday.
“He prepared us, it was like he wasn’t that gone, he’s always so involved,” said second-year women’s midfielder Shelby Bach. “We were very excited for him, especially to go home and see his wife, get a real home-cooked meal.”
Easing the week away was a new coach with a substantial resume. Jaro Zawislan was an assistant coach of Cavicchia’s at Syracuse University, has plenty of college and pro experience behind him and is the Rattlers’ new associate coach. He joined the teams just before their conference schedule began and ran a steady ship while the head coach was away for one of the biggest moments of his life.
“Jaro and Rob are a great combination,” said men’s captain Stephen Copeland. “It sucked that Robert left, we’re super happy that he got a baby, but we had Jaro and it was like Rob never left; just another positive guy to lead our team.”
Both teams head to Calgary tonight instead of driving up Saturday to face SAIT with bus legs. The men, 2-0-1 to SAIT’s 3-0, are looking to keep their string of clean sheets going while the 2-1 women know 1-2 SAIT is always dangerous.
The sides are at Olds (men 2-2, women 4-0) Sunday to wrap the weekend.
“We want to keep the momentum going, be top of the table by the end of the weekend,” said Copeland, who would also love to see his team in the national rankings for the first time since anyone can recall.
“It’s a big weekend for us,” added Bach.
