Vagnini wins coach of the year

By Jordan Caschera

The St. Clair Saints Women’s soccer head coach has won two college Coach of the Year awards at the CCAA Women’s Championship Banquet.
Steve Vagnini won the 2015 Ontario Colleges Athletic Association and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association awards. Vagnini was named the OCAA Coach of the Year for the second year in a row at the provincial championships two weeks ago. This past season Vagnini lead the Saints to a 9-1 record and a tie for first place in the OCAA West Division. In the playoffs the Saints had a record of 3 – 1 record.
St. Clair won OCAA Bronze, its first medal in women’s soccer since 1999. It was the fourth medal won by the women’s soccer program and according to assistant coach Kris Geier, Vagnini deserves it.
“He takes lots of time off from work to be sure the team is prepared and ready for each and every game,” said Geier. “His passion is contagious.”
Geier also said Vagnini earned respect from many of the coaches in the OCAA because of his preparation and dedication to the team.
“Steve always has the best interest of the program first and foremost,” said Geier.“He is the most prepared coach I have ever worked with.”
“Everyone on the team knows this and buys into it,” said Geier. “He has dramatically changed the entire culture of the program.”
Coach Vagnini said winning this award was an honour because he gets to share it with his team and coaching staff. He said no individual can win this award on their own without a great supporting cast.

“Our motto has always been ‘team’. We are taught to live and die together”
He said the team’s goal has always been to make the final four and anything less would have been devastating.
“This has become our culture and winning this award proves that we are headed in the right direction as a program,” said Vagnini.
Vagnini said they work with a positive attitude and deal with controversy when it arises and this allows the players to be relaxed and confident.
“From the first day the team is picked, I let the girls know that our ultimate goal is a national championship,” said Vagnini. “But we approach that one day at a time and one practice at a time and one game at a time.”
According to Vagnini this allows the players to be prepared to face anyone or anything in their way and he verbally reinforce this goal every day.
On top of all the outdoor soccer success, Vagnini has led the Saints to an OCAA Indoor Soccer Championship last March. It was the first ever gold medal for the Saints program.