Blazers Ink Stud Centreback Saka to Men's Soccer Squad
The CMU Men's Soccer program is very pleased to announce the commitment of Ryan Saka for the 2024-25 MCAC season. The Kampala, Uganda native is hoping to get down to business and be a big presence on the Blazers back line for the upcoming campaign.
A graduate of Kelvin High School in 2022, Saka featured on his Clippers side for his senior year, winning the Winnipeg #1 zone and earning a spot at MHSAA "AAAA" Provincial Championships. Although the team lost its quarter-final matchup to the hosts J.H. Bruns Broncos, the Clippers recoverd and won out, winning the consolation side of the bracket. Prior to his final varsity season, Saka played on the Kelvin basketball team, where he used his athletic six-foot frame on the hardcourt.
Saka immigrated to Canada in 2016 and found a home with Ircom in the club system, where his teams found immediate success during the indoor season where his squads took home four consecutive championships, as well as one outdoor championship in his time with the club. Saka took a leadership role with the team, organizing the squad's defence from the centreback position and helped setup the counter attack. Since graduating high school in the spring of 2022, Saka has been studying at the University of Manitoba while suiting up for E&E Sports Management, playing in showcases with an eye to land a spot in a university program. He will be transferring into the Redekop School of Business at CMU while competing for the Blazers as a student-athlete beginning in the fall.
It was at an early morning showcase here in Winnipeg that Blazers co-head coach Anderson Pereira first saw the lengthy defender and began talks with having Saka sign with his program. "Ryan is a young talent with a lot of potential. He has the ability to command the defence with calm assurance; a great defender with amazing composure on the ball and a great sense of distribution which will help us to build the play from the back with quality. He also has a great personality that will fit with our group and I'm sure he will stand out even in his first year. We are looking forward to having Ryan join us this season and to show everyone what he is capable of." Saka is excited to play competitively at the next level and advance his game, while being a part of a community that he's heard so much about and gain chemistry on and off the pitch with his new teammates. The Blazers showed flashes of brilliance last season, taking five of a possible six points against the eventual MCAC Champions Brandon Bobcats during the regular season, but faltered in the playoffs without their All-Canadian Victor Hugo Gomes de Abreu controlling the middle of the pitch. The team is building towards another championship run in the hopes of earning the program's first berth at a CCAA National Championships.
The winner of the Manitoba Collegiate Athletics Conference earns the right to represent the province at the Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association (CCAA) National Championships at the conclusion of the outdoor season, which the Blazers look to accomplish now entering the fourth year that the MCAC has been fully included in the Canada-wide conference. Blazers Men's Soccer last hoisted the provincial trophy in the fall of 2018 in Pereira's first season at the helm, while their most recent Men's Futsal championship was in the spring of 2020.
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