Valour FC did their homework on Owen Sheppard, including spending hours upon hours scouting his film, plus interviewing his coach as part of a background character check.
Yet, here’s one of the key reasons Valour FC called out Sheppard’s name with the first overall pick in Thursday’s Canadian Premier League-U Sports Draft – when assistant coach Daryl Fordyce saw him in person while taking in last month’s U Sports National Championships in Nova Scotia, the University of Cape Breton Capers forward consistently had him sliding to the edge of his seat in anticipation.
"Can he go and do it in the CPL? Absolutely, no doubt about it."@gocapersgo head coach Deano Morley praises his young forward, and first overall @USPORTSca draft pick to @ValourFootball, Owen Sheppard 👏#CanPL pic.twitter.com/VJwRWCvSQu
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) December 14, 2023
“Within 10 seconds I noticed Owen,” Fordyce explained in a conversation with valourfootball.club. “He caught my eye right away. He’s very, very quick. He’s got good pace and power, and he scored two goals in the first half of the first game at the championships. Not only that, he was also constantly a threat for the opposition.
“He’s one of those players that any time he was going to get on the ball in an attack he made me sit up a little bit and take better notice. When players grab your attention like that you then have to see what he’s about.
“And after watching him play I said to Phil (Dos Santos, Valour GM and head coach), ‘’We’ve got to grab this kid with the first pick.”
A product of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Sheppard was named the U Sports Championship MVP after scoring three goals at the tournament and helping lead the Capers to their second national title. Named a U-Sports First Team All-Canadian, he had nine goals in 11 matches this season for Cape Breton.
“In the first two games of the tournament, honestly, the two teams they played (UQTR and Mount Royal) were better than his – he was the difference,” said Fordyce. “And in the final against Montreal no one was expecting them to win but his team ended up winning. He never scored in the final, but still played with spark.”
Valour had the first selection in each of the two rounds of the CPL-U Sports Draft and after selecting Sheppard, then took University of Windsor centre back Gianfranco (Frankie) Facchineri ninth overall.
Facchineri is a product of the Vancouver Whitecaps system and has four CPL appearances to his name with Atlético Ottawa while on loan during the 2020 Island Games. He was also the captain of Canada’s 2019 U-17 World Cup squad in Brazil.
“We were looking for a centre back and when we were going over our lists, I didn’t know that Phil had worked with him before with the Whitecaps,” said Fordyce. “We narrowed it down to the players who would suit us the best and Frankie was there at the top of our list. That’s when Phil said he had workedwith him with the Whitecaps, not wanting to influence me in my evaluation.
“He’s a very good player who is very calm and composed on the ball and has a bit of a bite about him. He’s a player we think can come into our environment and really progress. First, he has to earn a U Sports contract with us, and as long as he works hard there’s no reason for him not to have, at minimum, a good CPL career.”
Valour will have both Sheppard and Facchineri when training camp opens in February.
“We’re really happy with our picks and looking forward to having Owen and Frankie come in and join us and for preseason,” said Fordyce. “We hope, and we’re confident, they can come in and earn a contract for the year.
“We have to be patient with them and at the same time nurture them to the point where they can feel confident within practice,” said Fordyce. “That’s what we’ll work on day by day with all the players.”