HAMILTON-WENTWORTH CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School student receives soccer scholarship

By Larry Moko

An outstanding year of soccer achievements for Ava Pugliese of St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School has culminated in her landing a scholarship to Southern Illinois University.

It all started last April when Pugliese and her St. Thomas More Knights teammates captured the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic indoor soccer championship.

That was followed by More's league title in the outdoor version of the sport where Ava and her sister Francesca were both in the lineup.

The Knights continued to roll by taking the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference AAA playoffs which led to a berth at the OFSAA tournament. And at those provincials in London, More captured the gold medal, topping Ottawa St. Peter, 1-0, in an overtime final.

It was More's first OFSAA soccer championship in the school's history.

A midfielder, Pugliese also enjoyed success at the club level. She played for the Caledon U17 Cyclones last summer - a squad that won the Ontario Cup and qualified for the Canada Soccer's Toyota national championships in Surrey, B.C.

The Cyclones were denied another gold medal, however, when they lost a heart-breaker in the final on penalty kicks to Quebec's Union Lanaudiere-Sud.

"It was a very successful and memorable season," Pugliese said after her signing ceremony at More. "I travelled a lot going to a lot of showcases.

"The overall experience was really fun."

The Southern Illinois campus is located in Carbondale. It's Division I in the Missouri Valley Conference and their teams are called Salukis.

"When I went for an official visit I felt comfortable in that environment. I just saw myself going there. I talked to a lot of girls on the team and connected with them."

And, yes, she knows what a Saluki is. "It's a dog," she said. Apparently they are swift, agile sprinters who love a good chase.

Currently in Grade 12, Pugliese began playing soccer at the age of three. She entered rep in Hamilton at the U9 level and saw action in the OPDL from U13-15.

"I've known Ava for quite some time," Knights coach Giovanni Carboni said. "I used to run some of the academy sessions for Mount Hamilton and I did one with her."

When Pugliese arrived at More in 2019-20, that season and the next one were cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

"She would have made the senior team in Grade 9," Carboni said. "Overall, she's a very well-rounded player. She can do everything well. She's one of those players whose work goes kind of unnoticed sometime."

Pugliese plans to pursue a career in nursing. She is scheduled to leave for Southern Illinois in August after finishing one more season playing alongside of her sister with More's indoor and outdoor soccer teams.

Carboni says last year's performance will be a tough act to follow, though, for the Knights. "We won 31 of 32 games," the veteran coach said. "I think that's never going to happen again."