Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Tuesday that University of Toronto Varsity Blues head coach Eva Havaris has been named an assistant coach of the Canadian women’s soccer team that will compete at the 26th Summer Universiade, August 12-23, 2011 in Shenzhen, China.

Official website 2011 Summer Universiade: www.sz2011.org/eng

Havaris began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Western Ontario in 2004 before taking on head coaching duties the following season at Fanshawe College, where she was named 2005 OCAA coach of the year after guiding her team to a provincial title.

She joined the U of T as an assistant in 2007 and took over as head coach in 2008, leading the Varsity Blues to fifth place at the CIS championship last fall. During her playing career at Western, Havaris was a two-time OUA MVP, two-time first-team all-Canadian, CIS player of the year in 2003 and represented Canada at the 2005 Universiade in Turkey.

"This is a great opportunity for me to coach on the international stage and one that comes at the right time in my coaching career,” said Havaris. “I am looking forward to returning to the FISU games this time as a coach and to work alongside Graham and Jorge to select and prepare a competitive squad with the right mix of talent, chemistry, and character. My personal goal will be to better Canada's previous best performance of fifth place in the 2005 tournament of which I was a member of that squad.”

For the second straight FISU Games, Graham Roxburgh from Trinity Western University has been appointed Team Canada head coach while Concordia University’s Jorge Sanchez from will serve as team leader.

Roxburgh and Sanchez guided the Red & White to a seventh-place finish in 2009 in Belgrade, Serbia, the country’s third best result in six all-time appearances at the competition.

Women’s soccer made its Universiade debut as a demonstration sport at the 1993 Buffalo Games - when the women’s soccer tournament was held in Hamilton – and became an official discipline in 2001 in Beijing. Canada placed fifth out of six teams in 1993, 11th (out of 12) in 2001, 10th (out of 11) in South Korea in 2003, fifth (out of 12) in Turkey in 2005 and 10th (out of 16) in Thailand in 2007.

The Canadian roster, comprised entirely of CIS standouts, will be announced in the spring of 2011.

The head coach at Trinity Western since 1998, Roxburgh has built the Langley, B.C.-based program into a perennial national champion since the Spartans joined CIS from the BCCAA in 2001. In nine CIS seasons, his troops have claimed three Canada West titles (2004, 2006, 2009) and as many national crowns including the last two (2004, 2008, 2009). In addition to the Belgrade Universiade, his international experience includes taking women’s and men’s teams on tours in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America over the past 13 years.

Sanchez has been the sideline boss at Concordia since 2002 and has served as president of the CIS women’s soccer coaches association since 2005. Prior to joining the Stingers, he was a Quebec provincial team head coach for five years (1997-2001), had two stints as an assistant coach at the National Training Centre (1996-1998, 2000-2001) and participated at four national championships as an elite-level club coach (1992, 1993, 1996, 1997).

CANADA’S WOMEN’S SOCCER COACHING STAFF 2011 UNIVERSIADE:

Head coach: Graham Roxburgh, Trinity Western University
Assistant coach: Eva Havaris, University of Toronto
Team leader: Jorge Sanchez, Concordia University

CANADA’S WOMEN’S SOCCER RESULTS AT THE UNIVERSIADE:

2009 (Belgrade, Serbia): 7th / 16 teams
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): 10th / 16
2005 (Izmir, Turkey): 5th / 12
2003 (Daegu, South Korea): 10th / 11
2001 (Beijing, China): 11th / 12
1993 (Buffalo, USA): 5th / 6

About the Summer Universiade
The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years, and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the Games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

Source: CIS