TORONTO, Ont. – For a second consecutive year, the Guelph Gryphons men's soccer team has produced a pick in the
Canadian Premier League (CPL) Draft.
On Tuesday night (Nov. 11), Gryphons All-Canadian midfielder Alex Zis was selected 8th overall by the Canadian Premier League's Hamilton-based franchise, Forge FC.
Zis was one of the 14 draft picks from the CPL-U SPORTS draft held following the 2019 U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship Presented by La Cage – Brasserie sportive in Montreal November 7-10. Fourteen players will be invited to CPL Clubs' preseason camp in early 2020.
Zis becomes the second Gryphon to be drafted by the CPL after teammate
Jace Kotsopoulos was taken 3rd overall a season ago.
Zis is coming off an impressive 2019 campaign with the Gryphons, with the Oakville native becoming just the third player in Gryphons men's soccer history to garner OUA MVP honours. The marketing major led the Gryphons to an OUA bronze medal in 2019 and factored into 24 of his team's 33 goals scored during the regular season (8 goals, 16 assists). Back in 2016, Zis broke onto the OUA scene as a star rookie, scoring 15 goals (8 during the regular season, 7 during the OUA and U SPORTS playoffs) to help Guelph claim OUA gold and U SPORTS bronze that season. Zis would spend the 2017 and 2018 seasons south of the border with the NCAA's University of South Florida Bulls before re-joining the Gryphons in 2019.
Since 2018, at the conclusion of the
U SPORTS Men's Soccer Championship, the Canadian Premier League holds a draft for eligible U SPORTS men's soccer players who have registered and declared themselves 'available' to be selected through the League's annual draft. This draft is open to any eligible U SPORTS underclassman that register for the draft. The CPL-U SPORTS Draft consisted of two rounds, seven picks in each round.
This truly unique partnership between the Canadian Premier League and U SPORTS provides student-athletes with an opportunity to be signed to a CPL-U SPORTS Developmental Contract that allows a student-athlete with one to four years of U SPORTS eligibility remaining to sign with a CPL Club, while preserving their eligibility before returning to U SPORTS competition.
The player draft picks were announced in succession on November 11th, 2019 at 7:00pm ET on CanPL.ca and on IGTV @cplsoccer.
1st Round CPL-U SPORTS draft selection:
1. HFX Wanderers - Cory Bent, Cape Breton University
2. Valour FC - Marcus Campanile, Cape Breton University
3. Pacific FC - Jan Pirretas Glasmacher, Thompson Rivers University
4. FC Edmonton - David Chung, University of Alberta
5. York9 FC - Stefan Karajovanovic, Carleton University
6. Cavalry FC - Gabriel Bitar, Carleton University
7. Forge FC - Gabriel Balbinotti, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
2nd Round CPL-U SPORTS Draft Selection:
8. Forge FC - Alex Zis, University of Guelph
9. Cavalry FC - Moe El Gandour, Mount Royal University
10. York 9 FC - Isaiah Johnston, Cape Breton University
11. FC Edmonton - Jacob Bosch, University of Alberta
12. Pacific FC - Tommy Gardner, University of British Columbia
13. Valour FC - Charlie Waters, Cape Breton University
14. HFX Wanderers - Jake Ruby, Trinity Western University
*the draft order was based off of the Club's regular season record over the course of both the Spring and Fall Competition and was formatted in a "snake draft" order with HFX Wanderers receiving the first-round selection.
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 an athlete 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.
To read more about
the CPL-U SPORTS Draft and draft selections. Click
here
About the Canadian Premier League
Canadian Premier League (CPL) is Canada's professional men's soccer league that debuted on April 27, 2019. Playing in world-class and unique venues, and partnering with strong community-led ownership groups, the CPL is a league for Canadians by Canadians that will bring professional soccer to communities coast-to-coast.
For updates and more information, please go to
CanPL.ca.
Connect with us on Twitter:
@CPLsoccer and
#CanPL
About U SPORTS
U SPORTS is the national brand for university sports in Canada. Every year, over 20,000 student-athletes and 900 coaches from 56 universities vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. U SPORTS also provides higher performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous World University Championships. For further information, visit USPORTS.ca or follow us on:
Twitter/Instagram/YouTube: @USPORTSca
Facebook: @USPORTSCanada
Media Contacts:
Micki Benedetti
Vice President Communications
Canadian Premier League
micki.benedetti@canpl.ca
John Bower
Director, Marketing and Communications
U SPORTS
Off: 905-508-3000 ext. 241
Cell: 780-667-5646
jbower@usports.ca
Alan Hudes
Manager, Communications and Content
U SPORTS
Off: 905-508-3000 ext. 242
Cell: 647-991-5343
ahudes@usports.ca
