Wolves whitewash Whitecaps
Victor Kariuki does a little bit of everything for the St. Catharines Club Roma Wolves.
The 20-year-old Niagara Falls resident can play multiple positions, is responsible defensively, and can even chip in on offence.
Kariuki netted his first of the season Friday as the Wolves blanked Whitecaps London 5-0 in League1 Ontario Men’s Premier Division action before about 600 fans at Club Roma.
“He’s a young talent who’s probably the best athlete on the team, no doubt about it,” Roma director of operations Carmine Provenzano said about Kariuki. “He plays a pretty good right back but we forced him to play centre back tonight and he did it well.
“He can do anything for us.”
Kariuki has no qualms moving around on the field.
“It’s obviously a challenge to think about but you have to always be ready and prepared,” he said. “On my own time, I like to watch film to study what other players do so I know not to jump into tackles too soon and wait until the attacker makes a mistake first and that’s when I make my move.”
Kariuki loves the defensive aspect of the game.
“My role is all defence,” he said. “I know all the positions because since I was young I have been playing defence my whole life. I’ve played centre back, right back and left back so I have very good defensive awareness.”
Kariuki, who is majoring in biological sciences at Brock where he is also playing soccer, was a standout at Saint Paul Catholic High School in Niagara Falls where he was named the most valuable player for the Patriots boys soccer team in his final year at the school.
He jumped at the chance to try out when Roma was awarded an expansion franchise.
“I saw it right away and I was really excited about that because it really hasn’t happened here,” he said. “Once you get to a certain age, soccer kind of dies down so having the League1, that competitiveness, I really love that.”
The win evens Roma’s record to 3–3.
The Whitecaps remain winless at 0-3-1.
“This league is tough and we have to take every advantage we can and try and win the game,” Provenzano said.
The teams played through a scoreless first half before Roma broke loose in the final 45 minutes.
“We were a bit slow. We started off well but then we kind of lagged a bit in the first half and they took it to us a little bit, but not enough to do any damage,” Provenzano said. “We were lucky we woke up.”
Oti Frigole added two while Kyle Cameron and Michael Solomon chipped in with singles.
Carson Provenzano earned the shutout in goal.
The Wolves are off until Friday, Sept. 3 when they host Waterloo United at 8:45 p.m.
Roma ramblings: The Wolves honoured Elijah Wanless, Gianluca DelPriore and Luca Danesi who are leaving for Italy Sunday to play for Nereto Calcio, a D division team.
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