CALGARY — Cavalry FC has signed four local players in Calgarians Marco Carducci, Chris Serban, Dominick Zator and Elijah Adekugbe.
The Calgary club is one of seven founding franchises in the Canadian Premier League, which kicks off its inaugural season in April.
The 22-year-old Carducci, a goalkeeper, is a two-time Canadian U-17 Player of the Year. He joined the Vancouver Whitecaps as a homegrown player in March 2014 after spending 2 1/2 years with the club’s residency program.
Most recently he played with the PDL Calgary Foothills FC, which Cavalry FC head coach and GM Tommy Wheeldon Jr. used to run.
"Marco is a highly talented goalkeeper and one who is perfect for the style of play we are looking to develop with the Cavalry," Wheeldon said in a statement. "His future is still waiting to be written and we want to be a part of his journey, as he has made his intentions clear that he wants to complete his journey and play for the full Canada national team, having represented them at U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels."
Serban, a 23-year-old fullback, left Calgary at 16 for the West Coast where he represented the University of British Colombia and Whitecaps 2 team.
Zator, a 24-year-old centre back, grew up in the Foothills organization and went on to captain the University of Calgary while playing for the local PDL team.
English-born Adekugbe, a midfielder, moved to Calgary when he was eight and started in the Foothills system.
"These four signings represent our recruitment strategy whereby we are identifying local talent first, then national and international as we build out our squad," said Wheeldon. "When creating a team from scratch, it is highly important to have people in the trenches with you that you trust and believe in.
"These four players, grew up here in Calgary and are proud to be amongst the first ever players signed in the history of Cavalry FC and who are hungry to fight for this City and write the history we are going to create here at Spruce Meadows."
Cavalry FC had previously announced the signing of midfielders Nik Ledgerwood, a 50-cap Canadian international, and Sergio Camargo, a former Toronto FC homegrown player.
The Canadian Press
