{"id":8220,"date":"2017-12-11T11:26:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T16:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=8220"},"modified":"2025-09-30T10:03:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:03:37","slug":"ravens-soccer-player-makes-history","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/ravens-soccer-player-makes-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Ravens Soccer Player Makes History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Ravens Soccer Player Makes History\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Carleton University\u2019s Idir Zerrouk made history in men\u2019s varsity soccer by becoming the youngest player to score a goal at the university sports level and, as it happens, he\u2019s the first men\u2019s player born in the 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible feeling – I didn\u2019t realize it was such a big deal when I scored the goal,\u201d said Zerrouk.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until our next practice that my coach came up to me and gave me the news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently playing for the Ravens, Zerrouk, 16, headed a rebound into the net, setting the new record on Sept. 10, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone is going to beat this record or get a goal as young as I did for a while. So it\u2019s something I\u2019m really proud of and I really hope to hold on to,\u201d said Zerrouk.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hard Work and Passion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Hard work and passion drive Zerrouk to succeed. On average, he spends 14 to 16 hours a week playing or practicing the sport, even though he is in the Engineering program. He skipped Grade 1 and fast-tracked high school to complete it in only three years so he could focus on soccer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI took summer or online courses and really focused on school to finish a full year ahead,\u201d said Zerrouk.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cSoccer is what drives me to work so hard. I really love the game and it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Team captain Tristan St. Pierre said he can guarantee that Zerrouk will only become a better player in the next couple of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cApart from him making me feel like a dinosaur, playing with Idir is a blast,\u201d said St. Pierre. \u201cFor someone so young, he has tremendous maturity and clarity (and) that makes him always willing to listen and learn. I wish I had anywhere near his technical ability on the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Soccer Ravens Treated Zerrouk Like Family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Head Coach Kwesi Loney described Zerrouk as a very smart and technical player, which fits with the team\u2019s style of play. He was concerned at first about Zerrouk\u2019s age. Loney wondered if the young teenager was mature enough to play soccer at the university level. But when the team treated Zerrouk like family, Loney\u2019s concerns vanished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the guys on the team look at him as their younger brother,\u201d said Loney. \u201cIt\u2019s really great the relationships they\u2019ve been able to make in their first year as a young team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zerrouk has been playing soccer since the age of four. His entire family, especially his father, are obsessed with the game.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve loved soccer since I was a kid. It was a lot of fun playing with my dad or cheering for our teams on TV. I guess that\u2019s where my passion for the sport comes from,\u201d said Zerrouk.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the future, Zerrouk is hoping to play in a European football league. His dream would be to play for a national team, either Canada or Algeria, where his parents are from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI work really hard and I\u2019m improving every day. I really think I can make it. I think this is a realistic goal that I can achieve.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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Carleton Ravens Soccer player Idir Zerrouk made history by becoming the youngest player to score a goal at the university sports level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":8225,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[18,25],"cu_story_tag":[1928],"class_list":["post-8220","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-athletics-recreation","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-athletics"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/8220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/8220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97870,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/8220\/revisions\/97870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=8220"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=8220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}