UOIT’s Mossavat takes top OUA coaching honours

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

The UOIT Ridgebacks have another accolade to their trophy shelf after soccer coach Peyvand Mossavat was named male coach of the year at the recent Ontario University Athletics (OUA) awards.

It’s only fitting that Mossavat would be handed the honour after leading the women’s soccer team to their first OUA banner and U Sports medal in the school’s history, just five short years after the program started.

The historic year saw the team dominate the regular season with a 13-2-1 record, finishing atop the OUA’s east division for the first time in program history. The club then carried the success over into the postseason, defeating the Laurentian Voyageurs 2-0 to advance to the OUA final four. After a 3-1 victory in the semifinals over the Windsor Lancers, UOIT defeated the defending champion Queen’s Gales 1-0 to win their first ever OUA championship.

At the 2016 U Sports championship, the Ridgebacks defeated the Trinity Western Spartans 1-0 before falling 2-1 in overtime to Laval. The Ridgebacks managed to bounce back in the bronze medal match, beating their OUA rival Gaels 1-0 for the second time in a week to win their first U Sports national championship medal.

“I’m honoured to have been given this award,” Mossavat tells The Oshawa Express. “When I look across at the coaches that have won it in the past, it’s definitely an honour, no doubt about it.”

The OUA honour is only the latest in a string of achievements for Mossavat, having previously been named OUA East Divsion coach of the year for the fourth time in his career (the second time in three seasons) as well as being named U Sports coach of the year for the second time in his career.

Over the last five years, Mossavat has led the Ridgebacks to a 68-32-15 all-time record, two OUA medals, two national championship appearances and a U Sports bronze medal. Prior to joining UOIT in 2012, he had been a coach with the York Lions and Ryerson Rams.

This summer is looking busy for Mossavat as well, returning to the sidelines for Team Canada as head coach for the upcoming 2017 FISU Summer Universiade in Chinese Taipei. At the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea, the Mossavat-led squad finished in fourth place out of 15 teams.

Looking at his success after arriving at UOIT, Mossavat credits the sporting community and organization at the school for having created the groundwork and support for these types of programs to thrive, particularly pointing out athletic directors Scott Barker with UOIT and Ken Babcock with Durham College.

“Every day that I walk into UOIT, I’m reminded what it feels like to be in a supportive environment,” Mossavat says. “Scott and Ken and everybody else, what they’ve done is that they’ve provided a platform…It’s amazing, it’s been great, they try to make it easy, they try to let you do your own thing.”