The Carleton Ravens women’s soccer team will be losing their long-time head coach, Alex McNutt, in March 2014 after he announced his resignation Jan. 22.
McNutt, who has been head coach of the Ravens for five seasons, will be leaving to take a position as the talent development manager with the Ontario Soccer Association.
McNutt said his decision to leave was tough.
“I really enjoyed my time with the girls and I’ve got a great staff and I think the support within the athletics department is really good so I’ve really enjoyed it,” he said.
Raz El-Asmar, the current assistant coach, will be taking over McNutt’s position in April.
“I’m very excited and I’m really looking forward to this experience but there are mixed feelings there,” he said.
Like the rest of the team, El-Asmar said he is sad to see McNutt leave.
“I’ve been assisting Alex now for two years with the program and I really got to enjoy it . . . working with Alex was great,” El-Asmar said.
Second-year winger Abby Nicastro said McNutt has helped the Ravens women’s soccer program improve immensely over the years.
“He’s really molded us into a respectable team in the soccer community,” Nicastro said.
In the 2008-09 season, the Ravens finished in 12th place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and the next year when McNutt took over the coaching reins, they finished ninth. This season, they placed third in the OUA East division and fourth in the league.
“It’s really sad and we’re sorry that he’s going. He’s done a remarkable job for our program so it is a loss to the program and to the university,” Jennifer Brenning, Carleton’s director of recreation and athletics said.
Ravens fifth-year captain Briana De Souza, who played her final season with the Ravens, said El-Asmar’s appointment as head coach was the best possible scenario.
“The team is definitely going to miss Alex but I know Raz can definitely fill those shoes and continue on where he leaves off,” she said.
Brenning said it was important to name the new coach quickly so athletes know who the head coach of the team is.
“We felt it was important that we moved quickly because this time of year student-athletes are making decisions about which university to go to and we wanted to make sure the transition was as fluid as possible,” Brenning said. “With girls making the decision of which university to go to, I wanted to make sure that they knew which coach was going to be in place.”
Brenning said El-Asmar was chosen because of his wealth of technical knowledge and experience in the women’s side of the game.
“Alex has done such a tremendous job with the program and the players,” El-Asmar said.
The Ravens defeated the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, then ranked first in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, for the first time in history Oct. 12 and also qualified for the Ontario University Athletics Final Four.
The team was only one win away from qualifying for nationals at the Final Four before they were defeated in heartbreaking penalty kick fashion by the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks.
“We were literally one penalty kick away from going to nationals and making history. We were so close and I really wanted to just keep going and get to nationals,” McNutt said.
Despite coming home empty-handed from the Final Four, the Ravens scored a record of 44 goals for the season.
McNutt said what he enjoyed the most was getting to know the girls on the team.
“I recruited them and brought them in and I’ve seen them improve and just get better individually each year,” he said. “I’ve just been really proud of them. We’ve seen steady improvement. It’s been fun.”
