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Dom Oliveri knows what it’s like to build a contending team from scratch. He’s been doing it with conspicuous success for years as coach of Ottawa Fury FC’s W-League women’s squad.

This season he has five returning players and 20 newcomers. They began to roll into town in early May but the full squad did not practice together for the first time until Thursday evening for a season that opens against Quebec Dynamo Saturday afternoon at Carleton University.

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How a coach can meld a team – let alone pick a starting 11 – in such short order is beyond me. Oliveri has to be counting on the quality of his recruits, and there is considerable quality here.

The coach talks about watching NCAA game after NCAA game to access prospects. He speaks of discussions with national team coaches from around the world.

“Sometimes you think you have a player, but she backs out,” he says. “A player you really want goes somewhere else. Maybe a player doesn’t fit our system or team mentality. We concentrate on character people who work well in the community, work with our youth players and other players around the city. We want them to be role models for the region.”