FC Women eyeing another chance at fourth title

Much has changed (new ownership, a new coaching staff). But a dozen players are back, and the winning culture remains. Combine that with new, young talent, and FC london is looking to take the league by storm in 2022.

(Photo: Paul Hendren / League1 Ontario).

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“London seems to be a massive hotbed for women’s soccer talent.”

Among the many things he’s learned about the Forest City since moving here two months ago, that’s the most important – and fortuitous – for Garrett Peters, the new coach of FC London’s women’s soccer team.

The Saskatoon, SK native did his share of recruiting, to be sure, including bringing in a few players from out of province, but the majority of the squad? It’s homegrown London talent.

“Our players are almost all local to London. Some girls play elsewhere, like down in the U.S. at school, but they’re from the London area,” said Peters. “Our roster is a combination … some have come up through the (TFC) Academy, and some are playing at schools in Southern Ontario.

“I had some contacts within Ontario, and we obviously had open trials. It seemed to work out pretty easily, actually. There’s a lot of talent here.”

That talent was on display last Sunday, as the FC London women got off to a strong start in 2022 with a dominant 8-1 win on the road over Unionville Milliken. Six different players scored for London, including Ally Hicks, Julia Benati, Thalia Lewis, Natalie Abbate, Jen Milligan (2) and Cheyenne Bower (2).

If you’ve followed FC London since their birth in 2016, this is a big change. For so many years, the team relied on its star striker, Jade Kovacevic, to score the majority of the team’s goals. Even last year, as the team went 9-1-2 in the regular season, finishing tops in the standings, Kovacevic accounted for 16 of the team’s 26 goals.

Jade has moved on, leaving big (golden) boots to fill. She always said she believed her teammates had the talent to score more, and Peters certainly agrees. He’s confident a variety of players will pick up the scoring mantle.

“It’s definitely going to be scoring-by-committee this year. We think Julia (Benati) is going to step up and add some more goals to her totals. We have Nat Abbate, from Western, who was a top scorer in the OUA this year, and we have Jen Milligan, another top point-getter in the OUA, up at Nippissing.”

Abbate led the Mustangs and tied for second in the OUA with 10 goals during the 2021 fall regular season. Milligan tied for fourth in points (five goals, five assists). Abbate then scored the winner in Western’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory over U of T and helped the Mustangs to a silver medal finish.

“We also expect Taniel Gay to be putting up points. So, it’s definitely going to be by committee. We won’t necessarily be relying on just one person as much, but we have a lot of depth and we’re pretty confident we’ll be able to have success.”

Gay, a striker, is one of three players Peters recruited from Saskatchewan, the others being Taylor Bubnick and Jadyn Steinhauer, a goalkeeper.

Benati, the veteran midfielder, is just as confident in the team’s scoring promise, especially after seeing six different goal scorers in their season-opening 8-1 win.

“We’ve always relied heavily on Jade putting the ball in the back of the net for us, but I think we could have a lot of different people getting goals this year,” said Benati, who was named League1 midfielder of the year in 2021 for the second year in a row. “I definitely see Jen Milligan as a threat. She has a lot of speed and a great shot. She’s going to be a danger to a lot of other teams’ defensive lines.”

Action during FC London’s season-opening 8-1 win over Unionville on Sunday, Apr. 24, 2022. (Photo: Paul Hendren / League1 Ontario).

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A lot has changed since last fall, when FC London’s women’s team fell 2-1 in their League1 semi-final to the Oakville Blue Devils on October 31, 2021, thus ending their bid for a fourth championship in five seasons.

The Club changed ownership, from Ian Campbell to a group led by Dave DeBenedictis, the director of the London TFC Academy. They also changed coaches, from Mike Marcoccia, who had coached the women’s team since its inception in 2016 – and who was also coach of the men’s squad the last few seasons.

Queue Garrett Peters and his quest to continue FC London’s winning ways on the women’s side while starting a new chapter for the Club – one that he’s thrilled to lead.

“I think I’m most excited to see a new era of FC London. There were a lot of amazing things done in the past. I don’t know if I want to say dynasty, but … they were definitely a dynasty,” said Peters, who joins the Club after coaching at Saskatchewan’s Regional Excel Centre – and enjoying a previous playing career that included representing Canada at the World University Games. “I think both our returning players and new players in the program are ready to write a new chapter and add to that legacy that the Club has already created.

“We want London to be on the map as one of the best soccer programs in the country.”

Despite the changes at the ownership and coaching levels, FC London’s women’s squad has about a dozen returnees on the pitch this season, including players like Briana Garcia, Meghan Scott, Robyn Scott, Maddy Michienzi, Chelsea Zavitz and Thalia Lewis.

“It’s a pretty solid core that’s back,” said Peters, who is joined on the coaching staff by assistants Alex Gaspar, Nolan Gilmour and Yiannis Tsalatsidis, the new technical director of the Club. “They’re excited to get back at it. The women’s team has been quite prolific, and we’re definitely going to be a very competitive team. Obviously, we have a goal of winning a championship.”

“We definitely still have a good core group of girls that have set the foundation for many years,” said Benati, who weighed her options before committing to another season. “For me, London is home, it’s always been home. I talked with a bunch of the girls (in the offseason) and there was a core group of us who wanted to stay here and whose hearts were still with this club. We decided we were going to continue forward and push to continue to build this dynasty that we’ve been creating so that women’s soccer in our hometown continues to grow and excel.”

And the young players? They have Peters and Benati equally excited, as there is a plethora of young talent on the 2022 squad. Roughly half the team is made up of players born in 2002 or later (“I’m officially one of the oldest people, which is crazy to say,” Benati said with a laugh). Those players, Peters says, are ready to step into larger roles and will get opportunities to see what they can accomplish in the league.

One of those young talents is Sadie Waite, who saw action in nine games with FC London last year. She’s still a high schooler, graduating this year. Waite has been involved with Canada Soccer’s National Development Centre program and has attended U17 national team camps. She’s headed to the University of Nebraska on a full scholarship next year.

“She’s going to be a very dynamic player in this league. She’ll get a lot of minutes and she’ll be very, very good,” said Peters. “We want her to do well, and we think she has a lot of potential. She’s got a very bright future.”

Benati says she’s excited about the new faces – and fresh, young talent – joining the program this year. She says the team will be better for it.

“We’ve brought more of London together. We’ve brought in players from other clubs, and we’ve brought players in from Western … it’s been a huge integration process getting new faces, and we’re getting used to each other and our movements, but we have a lot of talented young girls. It’s awesome.”

Garrett Peters, head coach of FC London’s women’s team. (Photo: Paul Hendren / League1 Ontario).

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The women will play a 19-game regular season – one game against each of the other teams in the league. That will run through July 24, and then League1 playoffs will begin, meaning most players heading back to school in the U.S. should be able to stay for the entire season.

The women’s team will play most of its home games at the Portuguese Club, although their first two home games, this Saturday, Apr. 30 (4pm) and Saturday, May 7 (7pm) will be at Tricar Field, their full-time training facility.

And what should fans expect from the 2022 iteration of FC London’s women’s team?

“We’re definitely going to play a fast game … you know, high pressing defensively, lots of counterattacks,” said Peters. “And then, as much as possible, we try to maintain as much possession in the other team’s half. And we have a number of different (tactics) in place that will help us do that.”

“It’s second nature to us that we’ve always been a very possessive style of team,” said Benati. “But something (the coaches) have really been pushing us towards is challenging us to be threatening in behind and making those channel runs through … getting numbers behind the back line and helping get us in positions that are more dangerous and create more scoring opportunities. I think that is going to create a lot of havoc for other teams.”

Benati has been impressed with the new systems in place – and with the new coaching staff in general.

“They’ve been absolutely incredible so far. They have so much passion, and they put so much time and energy into this program,” she said. “They care about us girls and our success as a team. And they not only want to have success now, but they want to build this program to have success in the future as a pathway for young players in London to be able to continue to progress to the highest level. I think Dave (DeBenedictis) did a great job finding coaches that matched his vision and matched our vision as well.”

Now, it’s about translating that coaching passion and hard work – and the talent on the roster – into winning games and pushing for a fourth League1 title this year. Certainly off to a good start with an 8-1 win, both Peters and Benati are confident heading into a new season of FC London footy.

“I think we have the depth this year that we’re going to be a very tough team to play against,” said Peters. “That’s definitely the goal, and we’re confident in all our players. We’re going to rely on everybody as much as possible, and we believe everyone will be contributors.”

And Benati? “I honestly believe this is one of the deepest rosters we’ve ever had,” she said. “We’ve always had a very talented group of girls, but this is one time I can say that from the starting 11 to when a sub gets put in, the level of our play won’t drop. There is a lot to look forward to this year.”