Matt Somers: How do you account for your eight shutouts in the regular season?
Luciano Lombardi: Well, I had a great defence and they made my job pretty easy. Both Eric Tse and Dustin Chung were Ontario University Athletics (OUA) All-Stars and Eric was named OUA north/south player of the year. I just took care of anything that got by them.
MS: What made the team so good this year?
LL: We had great talent, chemistry, and…incredible coaching. Our coaching staff taught us a system-a way to play-and when we executed it we won. In my mind, Carmine, Anthony, and Hieu are the best coaches in the country. Also, we as a team had great heart and determination and we were not going to let anything stop us.
MS: Did you guys expect to make it to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) final?
LL: Our team goal from the start of the season was to win the national championship, so anything less of the CIS final would have been unacceptable. Throughout the season, we believed we were the best team in the country.We knew we could knock off any team that stood in our way, including #1 Western, #2 St. Mary’s and the Canada West champions, Trinity Western.
MS: How do you feel about the controversial penalty that was given to Kim Saka late in the championship game, directly leading to the winning goal?
LL: I think it was the worst call I have personally ever seen in my life. There was no way that any referee should have made that call with six minutes left in a tie game in the national championship. Our whole team feels that the referee took the national title away from us.
MS: Are you excited that the team won CIS silver?
LL: I am extremely proud of what the team accomplished this year, but at the same time I’m very disappointed that we didn’t accomplish our goal and win the gold.
MS: How did you feel about scoring the tying goal against Trinity Western with no time left to send the semifinal game to overtime?
LL: I still can’t believe I scored that goal. It was an incredible moment and I was just so happy that I could give my teammates another chance to win the game and get to the final. It is definitely something I will never forget and I know I will never score a bigger goal.
MS: Was the closeness of the team a factor in the squad’s success?
LL: It was definitely a big factor in our success. We always played for each other, and as Carmine continually said throughout the year, we played to make our teammates beside us better players. We put our hearts and souls into every game and training session, and we were rewarded with a CIS silver medal.
MS: How did it feel to knock off top-ranked Western in the OUA finals?
LL: Beating Western was a great accomplishment. Last year they beat us in the OUA finals, so we weren’t going to let it happen again. It was a good feeling and it was a step in the right direction.
MS: Is the team going to celebrate winning silver medals?
LL: We are proud of what we did this year and we will definitely celebrate our CIS silver, but we still feel the disappointment of not winning the gold. This experience has only made us want the gold medal even more, and next year we plan on winning it all.
