(image credit - TRU WolfPack)

By Michael Reeve

WOLFPACK SOCCER

WolfPack Men’s Soccer heads overseas for newest recruit

May 9, 2024 | 7:05 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s soccer team has added a midfielder from the Netherlands ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Mel Nelissen, from Maastricht, Netherlands spent the past seven years playing at the MVV Maastricht academy where he captained the U16 and U18 squads.

“Mel is another really good attacking piece that we’ve brought into the program, he’s been playing at a really high level in Holland,” said WolfPack head coach John Antulov. “He’s a good attacking player that can play multiple positions, he really gives us that versatility. He’s a player that really likes to attack and go at defenders so I’m looking forward to him coming in with the pieces that we already have here.”

Playing soccer since the age of six, Nelissen has also suited up for RKHSV Heugem, Roda JC and VV Scharn throughout his youth career. While with VV Scharn, Nelissen helped the team to a pair of league championships.

“My strengths are my insight and my tactical awareness,” said Nelissen. “I am a box-to-box player, am both right and left legged, have good kicking technique in both short and long passing. I have good fitness and stamina. During matches I put in a lot of miles and am always on the move.”

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“It’s huge for us, the level of player that we are bringing in is going to give us the opportunity to continue to go up against the bigger schools,” said Antulov. “To get guys that have been in high-level academies is great and to bring in guys with this level of talent says a lot about what we’ve able to do for the last six or seven years and hopefully we can just continue on that track.”