In five years as men’s head soccer coach at York, Carmine Isacco has led the Lions to success not experienced by the program in decades. He is now the master coach of York’s soccer program, overseeing both the men’s and women’s teams.

The Lions have made three appearances at the CIS championships in his five years and have won two gold medals in 2008 and 2010. The first title was the program’s first in 31 years and the Lions are now one of the preeminent programs in the country. He also led the Lions to the OUA title in 2007 and silver medals in 2008 and 2010.

He is a two-time recipient of the OUA coach of the year award (2007, 2010), received York’s inaugural coach of the year award in 2010 and was also the CIS coach of the year in 2007.

Isacco joined the Lions after spending two seasons as the head coach with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, where he led the team to a pair of OUA silver medals and a CIS silver medal in 2005. His coaching career has also seem him claim a national championship with the Hearts-Azzurri S.C. in the under-18 division. In addition to his role as club head coach for Hearts-Azzurri, he also served as the club’s general manager, responsible for the administration of over 2000 young soccer players. As head coach of Toronto Supra in the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL), Isacco was named coach of the year in 2002 in the Ontario Youth Soccer League.

As a player, Isacco took to the pitch at the University of Maryland, where he was named a freshman all-American and a three-time all-ACC first team member. In 1993 he participated in the World University Games.

After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree from Maryland, he turned professional and played four seasons with the Toronto Italia Soccer Club in the National Soccer League (NSL). In his first season with the club he was named goalkeeper of the year and he also received Canadian all-star status three times.

Following his stint in the NSL, Isacco was a player and assistant coach for the Milwaukee Rampage in the A-League. While with Milwaukee, he was named an all-league first-team all-star, playoff MVP and he captured a league title in 1997. He has also spent time with the Rochester Rhinos and Toronto Lynx as a player/assistant coach in the A-League. His indoor playing career in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) saw him claim a league title in 1998 with the Milwaukee Wave and he was named a league all-star while playing for the Edmonton Drillers. Other stops in the indoor NPSL include the Toronto Shooting Stars and Buffalo Blizzard.

Laura Arduini joined the Lions coaching staff in 2012 to serve as the associate coach for the women’s program.

She came to York from the University of Toronto, where she served as an assistant coach and helped guide the Varsity Blues to a program-best fifth-place finish at the CIS championships in 2009.

Prior to joining the coaching ranks she played five seasons for the squad, including two where she served as team captain. She was named an OUA all-star in each of her last two seasons and became the first female soccer player in Varsity Blues history to be selected to the Canadian team for the FISU Games, serving as the team leader at the 25^th Summer Universiade in Serbia.

Arduini, who earned a bachelor of science degree in biology and her bachelor of education from the University of Toronto, is also the director of soccer operations at Christie Kicks Soccer and an elementary school teacher.

Paul DeAbreu joined the York Lions coaching staff in 2011. In addition to working with the Lions this season he is also the head coach of the Pickering Power Girls Ontario Youth Soccer League (OYSL) under-15 and under-17 teams. He has also been the assistant coach of the W-League’s Lady Lynx team.

In 2010, DeAbreu coached his Pickering girls under-16 OYSL team to an undefeated season, which culminated in an OYSL Cup championship, an Ontario Cup championship and a national title. He has previously worked with head coach Carmine Isacco, where he served as an assistant with the Azzurri under-18 boys team in 2008. He was also the head coach for the Unionville under-18 boys’ team, where he coached the squad to a silver medal at the national championships.

DeAbreu has recently been invited as first assistant coach to the Guyana under-20 women’s national team.

Breagha Carr-Harris is an alumna of the soccer program at York University, where she played for four years. She was previously an assistant coach with the team from 2005 to 2008 and returned in 2011.

Carr-Harris is also heavily involved in soccer away from York as she heads the community relations department with Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC, and she is both a head coach and technical trainer at Vaughan Soccer Club.

Pennant joined the Lions coaching staff as the goalkeeper coach in 2010, coming to York from Ryerson University where he served in the same role for both the men’s and women’s programs for two years. He has a wealth of experience coaching with the Ontario provincial program and the Jamaican national team. He is a provincial B licensed coach who also holds both an NACAA goalkeeping diploma and the Ontario Soccer Association goalkeeping certificate.

Kosta Poulos is in his third year as an assistant coach with the soccer team and focuses primarily on strength and conditioning for the student-athletes. A former York soccer player, he is completing his graduate work in kinesiology and health science and is also currently the strength and conditioning coach for Toronto SC of the Canadian Soccer League.