Nurse bolsters Griffins' goalkeeper position with athleticism borne out of multi-sport background
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Continuing a path they've taken over the last few years, the MacEwan Griffins men's soccer team is adding another seasoned veteran at the goalkeeper position.
The latest is 2025 recruit Keshawn Nurse, who comes to MacEwan out the Unionville Milliken in League 1 Ontario.
"He reached out," said Griffins head coach Adam Loga of the Brampton, Ont. native. "He's a bit older. He played League 1 in Ontario, which is arguably the best League 1 league in our country. He's got good experience there. He's a veteran coming in, even though he will be a (U SPORTS) rookie.
"We're just looking to add to our goalkeeper depth. David (Sithole)'s playing League 1 (BTB Academy), Kaleb (Lutz)'s playing League 1 (Edmonton Scottish), and Oleks (Popravka, last year's Griffins starter) is obviously a veteran himself. So, hopefully, if things do happen, one of them is going and can step in."
And injuries do happen as evidenced by Popravka – in the midst of one of the finest rookie seasons by a Griffins goalkeeper in 2024 – suffering a season-ending injury in training prior to MacEwan's final four regular season games.
Nurse will step in as the biggest keeper on MacEwan's roster at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds. He has previous post-secondary athletics experience playing baseball in the NJCAA at Dawson Community College in Montana in 2018-19, the season after he graduated from Notre Dame Catholic in Brampton, Ont.
"He's athletic," said Loga. "I know he played baseball at a high level, as well. He's got good size – he'll be our tallest keeper, which will be nice.
"It should help us on set pieces. We need to find answers for those phases of the game. Last year, they let us down. Over half our goals were off set pieces. In the run of play, we did very well. Hopefully he's able to collect those crosses."
Nurse and the Griffins will convene training camp in August as they prepare for their preseason opener vs. King's University on Aug. 6 (7 a.m., Clarke Stadium) and their season opener at Calgary on Aug. 23 (1 p.m., Canada West TV).
