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Trojan double take: SAIT men’s soccer coach Stevens adds women’s team to portfolio
CALGARY — Duty calls for Grant Stevens. Double duty, in fact.
Stevens, the head coach of the SAIT Trojans men’s soccer team for the past four seasons, will take on the additional role of bench boss with SAIT’s women’s soccer team during the 2010 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference campaign. Stevens replaces Seth Richardson, who spent two years at the helm of the Trojan women’s squad.
“I’ll have to push myself, but it keeps me young. It keeps me on my toes,” said Stevens with a laugh. “It’s always a challenge, but having both teams now, our goals are doubled up. It’s going to be quite the task.”
Last fall, under Richardson’s direction, the Trojans came within inches of qualifying for their first ACAC playoff berth since 2002. SAIT finished with a 4-5-1 record for the second straight season, tied for third place overall in the ACAC’s South Division with the Medicine Hat College Rattlers, but the Rattlers qualified for provincials thanks to their head-to-head record (2-0-1) against the Trojans.
Stevens, in fact, made a couple of cameo appearances on the sidelines with the SAIT women during the 2009 season, running the show while Richardson served a two-game league suspension. One of those games was a 1-0 win over Mount Royal University on Oct. 10 — the Trojans’ first win over the Cougars since the 2002 gold-medal final, won by SAIT.
“It’s a matter of finding the strengths of our players, as we’ve done with the male team. Our men did exceptionally well this year, and I’ll be taking the same approach with the women,” said Stevens, a two-time ACAC South Division coach of the year. “Our ultimate goal will be to make playoffs. Once I get the new set of players, once we know who’s on the squad for next year, we’ll be able to determine what needs to be done and what approach to take.”
The Trojan men fashioned their first undefeated regular season in school history last fall, at 7-0-3, and came within minutes of SAIT’s first ACAC men’s soccer title, losing the gold-medal final to MRU on penalty kicks Oct. 25.
“Grant’s successes with the men’s team show that he is an excellent coach, and it appeared that the women responded well to him when he served as their coach last year,” said SAIT Trojans athletics manager Mark Pretzlaff. “Grant has shown exceptional commitment to Trojan soccer, and we’re excited about Grant leading both programs.”
In two seasons as the Trojan women’s head coach, Richardson finished with an overall mark of 8-10-2. Richardson had previously served as the club’s assistant coach for four seasons.
“After serious thought, I have decided that other priorities in my life outweigh the commitment needed to run a soccer program at this level,” Richardson said in a statement.
His father Rob Richardson, who’d preceded Seth as the club’s head coach and most recently held the title of manager, has also left the squad.
“We would like to thank Seth and Rob for their years of service and their contribution to SAIT Trojans athletics,” said Pretzlaff.
