Langley – After an impressive first season with the Spartans men’s soccer team which saw him earn a Canada West Second Team All-Star and U SPORTS All-Rookie Team selection, Jake Ruby (North Vancouver, B.C.) was selected by HFX Wanderers FC (Halifax, Nova Scotia) in the second round of the CPL-U SPORTS draft.
Following the 2019 U SPORTS Men’s Soccer Championship in Montreal, the Canadian Premier League held a two-round draft, with 14 players selected from across the U SPORTS landscape.
Ruby joins Spartan alum Joel Waterman (2018) as Spartans who have been selected in the draft. Waterman, who just completed his first season in the CPL with Cavalry FC (Calgary), was also selected 14th overall in the inaugural CPL-U SPORTS draft.
“We
couldn’t be happier for Jake,” said Spartans head coach Mike Shearon.
“He is such a competitor. In every training session, he competed –
blocking shots,
winning 1v1 battles and scoring goals.
“He has great skills in both passing and dribbling, and can do a variety of things on the field and really excited he’s been given this opportunity.”
Ruby’s selection comes after a dominant first season with TWU. The first-year defender made an immediate impact with the Spartans, starting all 16 regular season games and one playoff game. An outside back, Ruby scored three goals and added two assists on the season, placing him fifth in team scoring.
While Ruby’s skill on the field this season was truly evident, his impact didn’t end there.
“The thing that impressed me most was his humility to get better every day.” Shearon said. “He came to us to get healthy and to get better so that a team would draft him, and that’s exactly what’s happened. He deserves it.”
The season saw him named to the Canada West All-Rookie Team, Canada West second-team, and U SPORTS All-Rookie Team. Ruby and the Spartans concluded the regular season with a 9-6-1 record, before falling 1-0 to Calgary in the Canada West quarter-finals last month (Oct. 26).
Ruby will have a chance to join both Waterman and fellow TWU alum Elijah Adekugbe in the CPL, as the duo played together with Cavalry FC this past season.
HFX Wanderers FC are coming off a season in which they finished seventh in the league with a 3-8-7 record. The team also selected first in the CPL-U SPORTS draft, taking Cory Bent from Cape Breton.
This truly unique partnership between the CPL and U SPORTS provides student-athletes with an opportunity to be signed to a CPL-U SPORTS Developmental Contract. This will allow student-athletes with one to four years of eligibility remaining to play with a CPL club in the spring and summer before returning to U SPORTS competition.
The draft order was determined in the reverse order of the combined CPL Spring and Fall season standings, with the caveat that the league champion Forge FC selected last.
2019 CPL-U SPORTS DRAFT
Pick Player Team School Pos.
1st Cory Bent HFX Wanderers FC Cape Breton LW
2nd Marcus Campanile Valour FC Cape Breton CAM
3rd Jan Pirretas Glasmacher Pacific FC Thompson Rivers CB
4th David Chung FC Edmonton Alberta CM
5th Stefan Karajovanovic York9 FC Carleton ST
6th Gabriel Bitar Cavalry FC Carleton ST
7th Gabriel Balbinotti Forge FC UQTR FW
8th Alex Zis Forge FC Guelph CAM
9th Moe El Gandour Cavalry FC Mount Royal CM
10th Isaiah Johnston York9 FC Cape Breton RM
11th Jacob Bosch FC Edmonton Alberta CM
12th Thomas Gardner Pacific FC UBC FW
13th Charlie Waters Valour FC Cape Breton ST
14th Jake Ruby HFX Wanderers FC Trinity Western RB