What started as a wild shootout ended up a second half of more traditional soccer as the Sudbury Cyclones remained undefeated in Ontario League1 Championship play, earning a 2-2 draw with visiting Guelph United on Saturday.
Coming off a pair of 1-0 victories, the Cyclones found themselves in a more wide open affair early in game three, with all of the scoring taking place in the game’s opening 32 minutes.
Cole Fernandez broke the ice for Guelph (11th minute), with Jaiden Santo pulling the Cyclones even eleven minutes later. The visitors secured their second lead in the 27th minute with Sudbury converting on one of their prettier goals of the season, a multi-pass play that culminated with a well-timed header from Caelan Walraven.
That would be the end of the scoring with quality chances much fewer and farther between the further this contest rolled on.
“It was a roller coaster (early),” confessed Cyclones head coach Giuseppe Politi after the contest.
“The first 25 minutes, we were not prepared and they exposed us on two set pieces. But I was very happy with our response. We conceded the first goal, but then we came back. Then we went down again and then we came back and scored a great team goal to tie it at 2-2.”
Coming off his freshman season at Nipissing last fall, Walraven, a 6’6” native of Guelph, captured the Sudbury ball movement as he described what he saw of the lead-in to the game-tying tally.
“I saw that it was going from one side to the other,” noted Walraven, suiting up with the Cyclones this summer after playing with Sigma FC last year. “As soon as I saw it on the left side, I thought I would sit back post. When it came back to the right, I was drifting to the other side and when it went out wide, I made my run and it was a perfect cross.”
With that bevy of strikes out of the way, the teams settled into a far more closely marked encounter. The Cyclones threatened a few times in the second half, with midfielder Nico Patenaude curling a free kick from just outside the box just to the right of the post while the best Guelph opportunity came on a deflected ball quite late that forced Sudbury netminder Connor Vande Weghe to stay sharp on his toes.
“I thought in the second half, we had the better chances,” said coach Politi. “We didn’t necesarly create the most open play, but we were getting into spaces and the referee called some fouls. We had some free kicks, some corner kicks.”
With Politi making no less than seven second half substitutions, it would take an across the board commitment to the game plan to preserve at least a point for the homeside. “Our coaching staff wanted us to control the game a little more (in the second half),” said Walraven. “We had to get it out wide, hold the ball up a little more and keep our composure.”
With his team preparing to hit the road next Saturday for a battle opposite Hamilton United (0-2-1), Politi was thankful that his team continues to show very well at home. “We’ve set a goal that Sudbury is our home fortress, which means points every game, whether that’s a win or a draw.”
“Today, it turns out to be a draw but we’re three games in with two wins and a tie. We’re in the upper half of the table, so things are good.” And no one is thinking that we have witnessed the final end product just yet.
“We are still coming together,” said Walraven. “Even though we didn’t all know each other, I find that we had a really good connection right away – and it’s only going to grow from here.”
On a more personal level, the 18 year-old who netted six goals in his rookie university season with the Lakers, including a pair in the home and home set with the Laurentian Voyageurs, has a very clear idea of where he would like to take his game this summer.
“It’s my physicality,” said Walraven. “Being a bigger guy, they will put two or three guys on me on those longer throws. Being able to hold off one or two is an accomplishment, honestly.”
