Now three full seasons into their careers with the Simon Fraser men's soccer program, the dynamic duo of Matteo Polisi and Marcello Polisi are still as hungry as ever to push themselves, and their team, to the highest level possible. 

For anyone who's watched them play a match at Terry Fox Field, this is rather self-evident. The Coqulitlam natives wear their hearts on their sleeves, and their passion for the game they love is undeniably infectious, both on and off the pitch. 

While the pair have racked up countless individual accolades over the course of their SFU careers (including both receiving All-American recognition and Matteo earning the DII West Regional Player of the year back in 2018) the Polisi Brothers are far from satisfied with their accomplishments. 

When we sat down and asked what the individual honours meant to them, they were quick to dismiss the praise they've received, instead stressing the importance of team success, and how they'd happily give away all of their individual awards in an instant:

"Yeah, it means something. But at the end of the day, you're not playing for those individual awards, you're playing for the team, and I would give up every single all-conference team selection to make a serious run at the National Tournament. I think that means way more, and I think Matteo would agree with me. You'd give up everything to make a serious run at it, and try to go very far as a team."

For Matteo and Marcello, the importance of team and program success has always been paramount, and it was unquestionably a factor in their decision to commit to SFU Soccer three (and four) years ago. At the time of commitment, both players were highly touted recruits who had grown up in the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers Academy ranks, and they could've very easily chosen to take up different opportunities when considering their futures in soccer. But at the end of the day, the sense of community and winning tradition that SFU offered the two budding stars ended up making for a perfect fit for the Polisi's: 

"Being able to stay close to home, obviously, which was a big thing – staying close to friends and family. But another big thing is was coach Schneider and Coach Harmse, they run a great program here, and the history of SFU Soccer was very good. When Allan Koch was here, they made Final Four, two or three times. So, I've always wanted to be a part of a winning team - and I think that's a big thing with this SFU men's soccer program. It's about winning, and there's an expectation to win every year…They [The Coaches] want to see every single player develop as a player but more importantly, as a person, they want everyone to develop as a person and come out of the program, an overall better individual, I think, which is very important."

While winning has certainly been part of the culture over the past three seasons, to date, playoff success has largely evaded the Polisi's while they've been on Campus. Speaking with them, it seems clear that their primary motivation moving forward is to bring their winning ambitions to full fruition in the 2020 season, their final year at SFU: 

"I think the goal, for all of us [all the seniors], is to make a serious run at the National Tournament and try to win it in our last year... If everyone comes back for next season, we should have seven or eight seniors. That would been one of the biggest returning senior classes we've had in a long time. If that happens, we'll have experienced players throughout the locker room spread out in all positions. That will be something that will be very helpful in tough games, because you look to lean towards those experienced players in tough games. That will help us grind through, and I think that's going to be very key for us next season as we work towards our ultimate goal."

When prompted to speak further on what would be required in order for the program to reach its goals in 2020, the Polisi's returned to the passion and commitment which has so often set them apart throughout their footballing careers. They also stressed the importance of having the whole team buy-in to the same mentality: 

"I think the biggest thing is that [winning] is just a mentality. I think what we were missing a little bit this year was just everyone having the mentality of needing to win every game, treating it as a must win game. I think that's a big thing that we need to improve on as a team, having a mentality that nothing else matters but winning…What we need to have as, as a team, is to make sure that we're winning everything: every battle for the ball, every header, connecting our passes the way we should be.  Just working on basics really. At the end of the day, that's the kind of commitment that's required to win at a high level...I think everyone will learn from this past season and grow from it. Hopefully, we'll come back stronger next year." 

 

Beyond their careers at SFU, the Polisi's have always had ambitions to play at the professional level and we spoke with them briefly about the excitement that's come with the introduction of the Canadian Premier League, and the opportunity that the League will provide for College Soccer Athletes throughout Canada and the United States: 

"I think that would definitely be a goal of ours [playing in the CPL], and something that we're both working towards...I think it's exciting. I think it's a big opportunity for everyone coming up through the ranks as a young player now, I think everyone has something to look forward to, and everyone has something to strive for. I think you see that it's an attainable level as well. I think it just gives more guidance to every single player at our level, you're actually playing for something, you're not just playing for fun. You can you see that you can actually reach something at the end of your University career now, rather than just kind of ending it there and going into the men's league or whatever it may be...it's very exciting." 

No matter what the upcoming year holds in store for the Polisi Brothers and the men's soccer team, one thing is abundantly clear: the leadership and mentality which the two brothers have brought to SFU Athletics and the Soccer program is something which will long outlive their stay on campus – and something that many other student athletes will aspire to replicate in years to come. Though Matteo and Marcello Polisi have already accomplished a lot during their time at Simon Fraser, it seems clear that the best is still to come for these two outstanding student athletes, and hopefully that includes a trip to the National Championships in 2020.