Entering 2026 season
Carlo Basso is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Simon Fraser women’s soccer program. His tenure has been characterized by historic success and highlighted by some of the team’s greatest NCAA-era achievements.
Basso was named interim coach for the 2023 campaign and was selected the team’s permanent head coach in January 2024. He owns a career record of 36 wins, 12 losses and 14 ties for an SFU women’s soccer all-time best winning percentage of .694.
SFU has won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championships and played in the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship in each year Basso has been the head coach (2023, 2024, 2025).
The Red Leafs are just the second team in GNAC history to win three conference tournaments in a row. Basso’s squads are also the first women’s soccer teams to qualify for the NCAA tournament in SFU history.
After conference titles and NCAA appearances in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the Red Leafs are looking to extend their historic streaks in 2026.
The 2025 season SFU’s best ever as a member of the NCAA. Basso guided the team to a 14-3-5 record, which included a best-ever 9-2-3 mark in league games.
The team earned its first-ever NCAA tournament win, a 3-2 triumph over Western Oregon in the opening round.
The Red Leafs booked their spot in the national championship event after winning a dramatic GNAC Championships, which they hosted inside the SFU Stadium at Terry Fox Field. The second-seeded hosts shutout No. 3 Western Oregon 1-0 in the semifinal before claiming the league banner over top-seeded Western Washington.
The thrilling GNAC final – featuring SFU and WWU for the third straight season – was scoreless after 90 minutes. Neither team found the net in extra time, forcing the game to penalty kicks to decide a winner. Steadily intensifying fog heightened the drama surrounding spot kicks. By the time Eve Lafontaine stepped up for final attempt (with the score tied 4-4), there was little visibility on the field. It didn’t deter the senior, who converted her chance and gave her team it’s third GNAC banner in a row. GNAC co-Defensive Player of the Year Sarah Loewen made the only save in penalty kicks to help SFU get the win.
Loewen and six others were claimed spots on the All-GNAC Teams, while she and Kiera were named All-West Region by the D2 CCA and United Soccer Coaches.
For his historic achievements, Basso was crowned the Male Coach of the Year at the 58th Annual Sport BC Athlete of the Year Awards in March 2026.
In 2024, SFU reached the double-digit win mark for the third time in the school’s NCAA era, which began in 2010, going 14-4-3.
After completing GNAC play with an 8-3-3 record, SFU then defeated third-seeded hosts Seattle Pacific 2-0 in the conference tournament semifinals. The Red Leafs then repeated as GNAC champions with a 1-0 shutout of top seed Western Washington.
The team’s campaign came to an end in the NCAA tournament with a 2-1 first-round loss to eventual national champions Cal Poly Pomona.
Isabella Muzzolini capped off her university career with Second Team (United Soccer Coaches) and Third Team (D2 CCA) All-America selections. She and Emily Smith were named All-West Region Team members by both the D2 CCA and United Soccer Coaches, while Kiera Scott was also a D2 CCA All-West Region player.
Muzzolini (co-Player of the Year), Smith (Defensive Player of the Year) and Dariella Lopez (Freshman of the Year) all won major GNAC year-end awards. The team had five All-GNAC selections and four Honourable Mentions.
SFU placed second in the GNAC regular season standings in 2024 (tied) and 2025, matching the program’s best finish in the table from 2010.
In Basso’s debut season, he guided SFU to the 2023 GNAC Championships title and a berth to the NCAA Tournament. It was the first time SFU had achieved either feat since joining the GNAC in 2010.
The Red Leafs finished the 2023 campaign with a record of 8-5-6 and went 5-5-4 in conference games. The team qualified for the GNAC Championships as the fourth seed. In the tournament, SFU knocked off regular season champion Seattle Pacific 4-2 in the quarter-final round before defeating defending NCAA champion and second-seeded Western Washington 2-1 in the title game.
The Red Leafs battled California State Los Angeles to a scoreless draw in the opening round of the NCAA tournament before the Golden Eagles advanced via penalty kicks.
Muzzolini was chosen to the United Soccer Coaches All-West Region Team, and was one of four All-GNAC players for SFU. Mikayla Tupper was one of three All-GNAC Honourable Mentions and the league’s co-Newcomer of the Year award winner.
Basso is used to making history with SFU. As a player with the men's team from 2010 to 2013, the striker from Coquitlam, B.C., recorded 47 goals, 16 assists and 110 points in 87 games. He is the school's NCAA-era leader in career goals and total points, and ranks second in GNAC history in those same categories.
Basso was an integral part of SFU's historic back-to-back trips to the NCAA Div. II Men's Soccer Final Four in 2012 and 2013. He was an NSCAA (now United Soccer Coaches) First Team All-American twice in his career (2011 and 2012) and the GNAC Men's Soccer Player of the Year and the SFU Male Athlete of the Year in 2012.
In 2023, Basso was one of three SFU individuals nominated for the NCAA Div. II 50th Anniversary Gold Award, which honours those who have made a lasting and positive impact in Div. II.
After finishing his university career, he played with the Ottawa Fury and Victoria Highlanders before moving into coaching with Coquitlam-Metro Ford. He also spent time as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Whitecaps Pre-Girls Elite Program in 2022.
A holder of two SFU degrees (B.A., 2015 and B.Ed, 2017), Basso joined the women's soccer team as an assistant coach in August 2021, and the Red Leafs qualified for the GNAC Women's Soccer Championships the next two seasons (2021 and 2022).
Basso is the third head coach in the history of the school's women's soccer program, which began varsity play in 1988.
