OSU Force Academy Zone: Pro clubs come calling early in OSU’s Ligue 1 campaigns
May 2, 2025
By Ottawa Sports Pages, for OSU Force
The Québec Ligue 1 season is very young for Ottawa South United’s men’s and women’s teams, but they already celebrated a historic feat when Naomi Lofthouse substituted in for Desiree Scott in the 84th minute of Ottawa Rapid FC’s inaugural Northern Super League contest on Apr. 27 at TD Place.
When the young OSU midfielder was called in to replace the team captain shortly after she scored the game-winning goal for the home team, it was a pinch-me kind of moment, rich in symbolism.
It was also emblematic of what both programs are all about – the 37-year-old veteran who helped fuel the Canadian women’s team’s international success and provided the foundation for the NSL to be created, making way for the rising 16-year-old local player.
Lofthouse was not yet walking when Scott made her first of 187 career appearances for the Canadian senior women. She and fellow 16-year-old OSU player Mia Ugarte had been activated by the Rapid under youth development permits, joining several other Rapid regulars with OSU roots including Emily Amano.
The launch of Rapid FC and the NSL has created an intriguing new pathway for top local female players to pursue, and numerous players from OSU’s Ligue 1 team have received opportunities to train and compete for the new professional women’s team in town.
“Because we’re the only club that offers Ligue 1 in the Ottawa area, it’s a natural place for them to find talent, since we develop and attract the better players in the city,” explains OSU Ligue 1 head coach David Fox. “I have no doubt that our players will be involved in the coming years, more senior players now, and hopefully some of our younger players in the future as well.”
Fox has worked with Lofthouse and Ugarte since they were 12 years old and has witnessed their tremendous growth and development. They celebrated numerous provincial championships along the way, including Ontario Player Development League Charity Shield titles at both the U16 and U17 levels last season.
“They’ve kind of achieved everything, and because of the success they’ve had down there, they’ve become sort of in contention for those roster spots (with the Rapid),” Fox notes. “It’s hopefully something we’re going to see more of in the coming weeks and months as well.”
It will likely be a bit of a juggling act for the skipper to assemble his game-day lineup sheet for the 16-game Ligue 1 season that runs through to August. And while having players like Ugarte and Lofthouse with the Force full-time would certainly boost his side, Fox doesn’t lament that reality for a moment.
“That’s why we’re here, right?” underlines the 2024 Ottawa Sports Awards Male Coach of the Year. “We can win these leagues and championships, but this is what we want to do. Success at the end of the day is moving players on to the next level and helping them maximize their potential.”
OSU’s 2025 Ligue 1 roster includes many NCAA and U Sports players such as Canadian youth program all-time leading scorer Annabelle Chukwu (University of Notre Dame), her twin sister Isabelle Chukwu (Brown University), University of Ottawa Gee-Gees Nibo Dlamini, Sophia Meireles, Maya Smith and Sabrina Mangiaracina, Sofia Cortes-Browne (University of Arizona), Claire Rea (University of Cincinnati) and last year’s team-leading and league #3 scorer Rosa Maalouf (University of Texas).
“They’ve actually grown up in our culture, in our training environment, so those players come back with a certain mentality and expectation,” Fox illustrates. “Bringing in those more experienced players, particularly for our younger players, gets them exposure to that next level of athleticism and physicality that they can bring as well.”
OSU will also mix in players from its new Ligue 1 U21 Espoirs group and top youth players from the Force Academy who ready for bigger challenges.
“Ligue 1 is a little bit more difficult, because we don’t have all our players always throughout the whole season, but it allows an opportunity for our younger players in the Academy to play up and get that experience – particularly those going off to play in university in the next couple of years, to give them exposure to those games as well,” highlights Fox, whose club is not running a U17 OPDL program this season in favour of the Quebec U21 loop.
“It’s going to be an appropriate level, and it’s a step up in challenge for our younger players to kind of bridge that gap between OPDL and Ligue 1 now, so I think that’s been really positive,” he adds.
OSU is off to a 1-1-1 start in Ligue 1, with a 3-2 loss to Royal Beauport, a 6-0 win over St-Hubert and a 3-3 draw with Haut-Richelieu Celtixs. Cindy Yang, another U17 age player and a future Yale University player, leads all of Ligue 1 in scoring with six goals in those three games.
The Force will play their next match at home against Chaudière-Ouest on May 4 at 6:30 p.m. All OSU Ligue 1 home games take place on weekends at George Nelms Sports Park in Manotick.
OSU men shooting for the top in Ligue 1
The OSU Force men kicked off their Ligue 1 schedule with a 4-0 victory over the Haut-Richelieu Celtix on Apr. 26 at George Nelms, as Gabriel Tardif and Abdulazeez Hammood Lazam each scored a brace.
“The first game kind of gives you the calmness to know and to learn that you are a good team, so you can get the confidence,” says Force men’s coach Vlad Vrsecky. “It’s always important. The biggest thing is always to kind of shake off the starting nerves when nobody knows what to expect. You don’t really know the teams because we don’t play them in the preseason.”
Similar to the women, a number of OSU’s Ligue 1 men have earned opportunities with Atlético Ottawa of the Canadian Premier League. Several were part of the club’s preseason camp, while Adam N’Goran was selected by Atlético in the CPL U Sports draft and Ralph Khoury has been signed to a development contract for the 2025 season.
“We work very closely with Atlético,” Vrsecky signals. “Sometimes if Atlético needs some help during the practices, or eventually during the season, they will ask for some young guys to play for them. The connection is there.”
With many players available to train and play locally throughout the winter, the Force men’s team was assembled well ahead of the season. OSU missed last year’s playoffs on tiebreaker and are driven to rise to the top this time.
“I do believe that we do have the quality, and I do believe we will achieve it,” Vrsecky indicates. “However, it won’t be an easy season, so we need to stay humble and work hard.”
OSU’s preseason included futsal play in Gatineau as well as friendlies with Blainville and the Carleton University Ravens. The Force have many Carleton connections in their lineup, including N’Goran, Abdulrahman Akinwande, Emad Houache, Kevin Kaba, Moses Kafeero, Yusuf Osman, Adrijan Vranjkovic and staff member Kwesi Loney.
With half of the team consisting of returning players, OSU also brought others who have championships under their belts from the Quebec U19 and reserve divisions.
“We have quite a younger team than last year, which is nice. We have nice energy, good quality and a lot of talent, and we hope these young guys will end up playing for Atlético or someone else in the CPL,” Vrsecky adds. “What I like this year is that even though the players still work or study, they have very good attendance and a very good attitude, which is always very beneficial at this level and very exciting to start the season.”
OSU will take on AS Laval this Saturday night at 7 p.m. at George Nelms.
Learn more about Ottawa South United Soccer Club at osu.ca and follow OSU’s Ligue program on Instagram.