Carlo Basso is the new head coach of the women’s soccer team at Simon Fraser University (SFU).
It’s a job the former player for the Red Leafs’ men’s team has already held for a year, but Friday, Jan. 5, his interim position was made permanent.
Basso led the women’s team to its first berth in the NCAA Div. II women’s soccer championship since 2010 after winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship.
"After such a successful debut as interim head coach, we’re thrilled to shed this tag and make the position official," said Breanne Watson, SFU’s associate director of athletics, in a news release.
"Carlo’s passion for SFU and the women’s soccer program makes him a fantastic addition to our department."
In his four seasons playing as a striker for the men’s team, Basso scored 47 goals and 16 assists in 87 games. His goals and 110 total points are the most by a SFU player during the school’s time in the NCAA and the second most in GNAC history.
Basso was a part of the team that played in back-to-back NCAA Div. II men’s soccer final fours in 2012 and 2013, he was twice named a first team All-American and in 2012 he was awarded the GNAC men’s soccer player of the year and SFU’s male athlete of the year.
After finishing his career on Burnaby Mountain, Basso played pro soccer with the Ottawa Fury and Victoria Highlanders before returning to Coquitlam as a coach in the Coquitlam Metro-Ford youth program as well as helping out with the highly-successful girls team at Centennial Secondary School.
Basso joined SFU’s women’s team as an assistant coach in 2021 and became the interim head coach after the departure of longtime head coach Annie Hamel just before the start of the 2023 season.
Basso said he’s looking to the successes of his first year at the head of the bench as a building block.
“I have had so many amazing experiences as a player and coach at this institution,” he said.
Basso earned a Bacher of Arts degree from SFU in 2015 and achieved his Bachler of Education in 2017.
