Reflecting on a Striking Good Time
Dean Pizolinas
Midfielder
Laurentian University Men's Soccer
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Unlike most kids who grow up in the Etobicoke region, I choose to enroll in soccer at the young age of 4. Most kids from my area immediately enroll in hockey and dream about one day making it to the NHL. I was different. You can say my parents had a tremendous impact on my passion and love for the game of soccer. Both my parents have a Greek background with my dad being born and raised in Greece later moving to Canada when he was 4. For those that have been to the country, soccer is their pastime. They eat, drink, sleep and breathe soccer. They don't have many hockey rinks like we do here in Canada. Soccer has been my passion ever since I was a little boy. I always dreamt of scoring that big goal and raising the trophy with my teammates. I still remember to this day when Greece won the 2004 Euro Cup after upsetting Portugal 1-0 in the final. From that point on my passion and love for the game skyrocketed. I started taking soccer more seriously and wanted to play at the highest level possible. I played my club soccer for the York Jets and attended Richview Collegiate Institute. My high school team was very good every year as we won almost every game in the regular season but unfortunately were never able to win cities. As I grew with the sport, I knew I could continue to play at the next level. Laurentian recruited me and offered me a scholarship and I knew this was the right opportunity.
The game of soccer has given me so much over my lifetime. I've become a part of brotherhood you can say. I've created numerous friendships and memories that I will cherish and always remember. One of my greatest memories was scoring my first OUA goal. We were playing the University of Toronto who had a really strong and aggressive team that year. I got a really nice through ball from one of my teammates and I made no mistake sliding it through the keeper for my first goal in front of all my friends and my family who I love and value so much.
During my first training camp, I knew right away that the next four years with the team were going to be awesome. We had a really great group of guys that immediately become some of my closest and best friends during my time here at Laurentian. It was a difficult transition at first as I didn't have too many friends. Most of my friends from my hometown went to other schools so I didn't really know a lot of people. But I knew training camp was important to show the coaches the style and strengths of my game and make new friends which helped me with adapting to a new team, city, and school.
First OUA Goal
My first two years with the program were not what I initially anticipated. We struggled to win games, the team morale was down, and we didn't make the playoffs which was one of our main team goals. Don't get me wrong our team had a lot of potential. We had the best goalie in the league in my eyes and had a lot of good core pieces at all positions. We just made a lot of little mistakes that cost us in our hopes of making the playoffs. My last two years were much different. We starting winning more games and were a lot more competitive. We made the playoffs each of the last two seasons which was awesome for the growth of our program. All the extra training hours on and off the pitch finally paid off. We were all eager and ready to avenge our tough first round playoff loss against Queen's from a year ago. We were matched up against UOIT who we played tight all season.
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I knew beforehand that this could potentially be my last game wearing a V's uniform. I didn't want it to end because I wasn't ready to hang up my cleats just yet. The game was fast paced and very even throughout. The game ended up going into extra time where one goal would decide our playoff fate. We ended up losing a heartbreaking game in extra time 1-0 and when that final whistle blew I was heartbroken. I wanted to win one playoff game for my family, my coaches, and my brothers. I'm certainly looking forward to watching how my fellow teammates will perform next season. The program is heading in the right direction and hopefully our core can learn from these playoff experiences and make a deep playoff run next season. I will certainly miss playing the game I love and most importantly the relationships and memories I have created with my brothers and coaches.
Whats next you might ask?
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Soccer is something I will always have a connection, passion and love for. Through all the ups and all the downs the game has helped shape me as a person. I'm set to graduate from the Sports and Physical Education program in the spring but I'm still uncertain what the future holds in terms of a career. But one thing is for certain, I will continue to play soccer because I love the game. Whether it being playing at the next highest level, training other athletes, or even coaching.
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The past four years here at Laurentian have been nothing but the best. Playing soccer, meeting new people, and building new lifelong relationships with my teammates have been some of the best memories of my life. I will most definitely miss the game and all the little things soccer has given me. All good things must come to end at some point and this is definitely one of those good things. I wish I could do it all over again and wouldn't trade these memories I made here at Laurentian for anything.
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To my coaches and teammates,
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Thank you for everything you have given me the past four years. Thanks for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to play for the Voyageurs. Some advice I'd like to give to the younger players; “Time is short here, the 4 years on the pitch goes by really fast but are also some of my most enjoyable memories here at LU. When you are given an opportunity, make sure you make the most of it. Work and practice hard each and every day and big things will come.”
