Cavalry FC's Marco Carducci aids testicular cancer cause with meatball pizza partnership
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Marco Carducci is back saving balls for Cavalry FC.
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Then there's the veteran goalkeeper's other gig — that is saving balls for Calgary's male population, as a voice and high-profile face for Oneball, a local charity focused on supporting the battle against testicular cancer through funding, research and awareness.
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One begets the other in his mission to be a proud Calgarian.
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'After my testicular cancer diagnosis a few years ago, I have been working with Oneball,' Carducci said. 'I've partnered up with the Italian Centre Shop — great friends of ours there — and we've put together what's called Marco's Meatball Pizza.
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'You can find the pun in that. I'll leave it as it is.'
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But supporters can take it and bake it at home or enjoy the tasty pizza at the store's cafe in Willow Park, at 9919 Fairmount Dr. S.E. in Calgary.
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Marco's Meatball Pizza is on sale for $17 for a limited time from April 23-30, with proceeds from each wheel sold going to Oneball.
The goalie himself can't eat too many of the delicious works named after him, because that might interfere with his on-field professional job, which continues Saturday when Atlético Ottawa (2W-0L-1D) visits Carducci and Cavalry (0-1-1) for a Canadian Premier League match at ATCO Field (3 p.m., TSN3, OneSoccer.ca).
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And it's a game the Cavs certainly want to win given their 0-fer-start to the CPL campaign.
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'It's a long season — we know it is,' said Carducci, whose club dropped a 2-1 battle with arch-rival Forge FC in the season opener in Hamilton and then drew 1-1 last Friday night with Vancouver FC in the home opener at Spruce Meadows.
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'Yeah … our first games obviously didn't go the way we wanted,' continued Carducci. 'But we've been here before, and we're excited again to play in front of our fans.'
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They've been down this road before many times early in the CPL schedule.
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So that's why there's no worries at this point — no panic at all — in still searching out a first league win on the season.
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To quote Cavalry's GM/head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr., 'It's a marathon — not a sprint.'
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And being an original member of Cavalry, the superstar 'keeper and captain embraces that advice better than anyone else.
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'I think it's a matter of we have that chemistry and we have an understanding of what this team is about and what makes this team tick — not just on the field but off it and culturally,' Carducci said. 'I think that's a big piece, right? We obviously lost some key pieces in Daan (Klomp) and Charlie (Trafford), but we've been able to keep a big core group of guys, right? And then we added some really good pieces, as well.
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