Illusion Website: www.WestVirginiaIllusion.com 

Monday, April 28

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – Marisa Kanela has been become a fixture in the soccer community of north central West Virginia, first as an all-conference player at West Virginia University from 2001-2004, then as a successful youth coach. Now she gets to combine the two as a player-coach for the first-year West Virginia Illusion.

“I am extremely excited about it,” said Kanela. “I have been wanting to play for many summers now and with my schedule and the amount of coaching that I do in my spare time, it made it very difficult. With the W-League here in Morgantown, it has given me an opportunity to still coach my teams, do camps, and still get to play.”

“I think it is going to give us the backbone, especially for such a young and new team,” said Illusion Head Coach Joe Dorini, who played professionally for four years, including stints with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Carolina Dynamo. “I am really going to count on Marisa to be a leader on and off the field. I think she is going to surprise a lot of teams.”

She remembers when Dorini pitched the idea of having a W-League franchise in West Virginia to her and fellow WVU alum and Illusion teammate Christen “Suggie” Seaman early last summer.

“I got excited; he seemed like he had a bunch of good ideas,” she said. “We have helped him in every way we could...uniforms, logos, anything we could help him with because he sure has a lot on his plate. He has taken a big responsibility and he has made it work. He has done a great job with that, so it’s been exciting.”

Kanela, who is still in graduate school at WVU, scored 28 goals in 85 matches for Nikki Izzo-Brown’s charges and, upon completion of her eligibility, stuck with the program as a manager. The transition from field to sideline hasn’t been tough.

“I love it,” said Kanela. “It was hard at first because you are still part of the team and you are still friends with a lot of girls on the team and you still have that bond and relationship with them. But I pretty much knew my entire life that I was going to be a coach, one way or the other.”

“I noticed [her technical aspect] very quickly when she was just out playing around with some of the girls,’ said Dorini. “After a couple of years that she hasn’t been playing, she’s still above and beyond what we are seeing in college. When we came up with the idea for the team, she was actually the main prospect to be on it.”

Kanela played as a left midfielder, a central attacking midfielder, and as a forward for Izzo-Brown at WVU. Dorini has the similar responsibility of figuring out where she can do the most damage.

“That is a tough question,” said Dorini. “Right now I see her as an outside midfielder, just the way she attacks down the flanks would be ideal for me. But, you never know. I think she brings a softer side with a lot of knowledge of the game, which will help me out a great deal with the girls.”

“ The team’s potential benefits for the soccer community in West Virginia are immense,” said Kanela.

“I think it has been fantastic for the kids to be able to have it. I think it is an exciting time for not just the University, but I know Nikki loves having her student-athletes around for the summer to be able to prepare and use the facilities as much as possible and to be able to have a team they can play on instead of having to go home.”

“I think that’s a great bonus for us,” added Kanela. “Obviously bringing in players from other universities...to show them that this is a soccer community where we support everything that we do soccer-wise and not just for the university, but club, community, and youth level. It not only gets the club excited but the community excited.”

The Wantagh, N.Y. product also coaches U-18 and U-15 girls teams affiliated with the West Virginia United Soccer Club as well as “doing individual work with many kids,” Kanela laughed.

The Illusion could be a springboard for the future. Like many current and former college players, Kanela is excited about the potential of the new Women’s Professional Soccer, which launches next April.

“If after this summer my body says, yeah, you can do it, then I am all for it, and I would love every opportunity to continue to play,” said Kanela. “You are only guaranteed a few years, and then after that there’s always coaching. I am going to see what they have to offer and see what the best situation is for me.”

The Illusion began play on Saturday, May 10 when they host the Charlotte Eagles at 5 PM. Tickets for the game at Fairmont State University’s Duvall-Rosier Field will be sold for the special Opening Day price of $1.