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In spades, to be certain.

Carducci’s a Calgary kid having come up through the ranks of minor soccer in the city — with MSB United (2000-05), MacKenzie FC (’05-06) and the Calgary Villains (’06-11) — before having to move in his pursuit of joining the professional ranks.

With no pro team in The Stampede City, the goalkeeper left when he was 14 to take up residence in the Vancouver Whitecaps system.

But the path to success led him down a long, winding road that eventually saw him leave the West Coast and head to Texas to the Rio Grande Valley Toros of the USL Championship.

At every turn on the trail, hurdles kept Carducci from getting a grip on a starting gig on goal.

The young ‘keeper appeared in six games during the 2013-14 season with Vancouver Whitecaps Under-23 squad but failed to get the call to arms in two seasons with Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Carducci did play in 16 matches with the Whitecaps FC 2 club during the 2015-16 campaign, but then went south to get into six games with the Toros.

“He just found the path to the first team was tough to get to, because there were three or four goalkeepers in his way,” said Wheeldon Jr. “For him, he didn’t get his chance.

“So when he was down in the U.S. in the USL, we said, ‘Look … come home. (The CPL is starting up) — this is what’s happening down the line. We think it would be great to represent your home city.'”

Carducci’s return to Calgary proved fruitful, as he became the man minding the twine for 10 games of what would become a title-winning season for Foothills FC in the Premier Development League, now the USL2.