Less than two weeks ago, action kicked off in the 2025 season of SDSSAA soccer, with no less than five divisions of play on the go.

Less than two weeks from now, playoff action will begin in those very same divisional brackets.

The high-school soccer season in Sudbury is a compressed one, to be sure.

With most teams contesting just four regular season games, it will be tricky to deduce a whole lot of trends prior to elimination games taking place. We can look to recent history to try and predict the future – but with the inevitable turnover at the secondary school ranks, even that process is only so helpful.

“Honestly, I still think we have a pretty solid chance this year,” said Horizon Aigles' senior Isabelle Gilbert, her team proud three time defending city champions but having graduated the likes of Kiara Levac, Brooke Dugas and Olivia Hinich, among others.

“We are working more as a team this year, I find,” Gilbert continued. “We’re able to connect our passes better and we do have Makenna (Messier) as well who can finish.”

A talented club player, Messier netted a hat trick, Alexis Brabant and Emilie Philippe added one goal each and Anika Rhéaume and Taryn Lavigne shared the shutout as Horizon blanked the Confederation Chargers 5-0 on Tuesday, improving to 2-0-0 following a 1-0 win on Monday over the Bishop Carter Gators.

“Defensively, I think we’re communicating a lot more than we did in previous years,” noted Gilbert. “We’re able to better connect our passes.”

As followers of Sudbury high-school sports well know, it isn’t just in soccer where the Aigles have risen to prominence in recent years as the French catholic school on Valleyview Road (Val Caron) also boasts banners in volleyball and basketball, hockey and flag football, among others.

“We’re getting a lot of good athletes, a lot of well developed athletes,” said Gilbert. “But it’s also the practices that we have and the great coaching staffs that we have with all of our teams.”

Other recent SDSSAA girls games of note included a 3-1 win for the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes over the Confederation Chargers (Jasmine Mwiza, Adèle Prévost, Madison Heaton with goals for CND), a 1-0 shutout for the St Charles College Cardinals of Bishop Carter (Nyah Robinson with the goal) and a 2-0 triumph for the Sacré Coeur Griffons versus the Champlain Requins (Amy Flores with a two-goal effort).

Also looking to defend their city banner, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights junior boys were nothing if not impressive in registering a 7-0 whitewashing of the Lasalle Lancers, extending their winning streak to three games as Josh Reich (2), Fengning Ye, Frank Nzotungwanimana, Harry Yeamans, Iliyas Sambo and Nick Alexander all hit the scoresheet for the winners.

“We had a bit of a shaky start to the season but I think we are ramping it up more now,” said towering centerback Nick Alexander, preparing to head south for a second summer of OPDL (Ontario Player Development League) soccer. “I liked the fact that we were able to pass the ball around more and find different ways to attack other than just kicking it up to our faster players.”

One of the many well-established GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club) products on a team that features a boatload, Alexander suggested that there is a different feel at play when he steps on the pitch donning the purple and black colours of the Knights.

“I find the high-school soccer is just a lot of fun,” he said. “You’re with your friends that you see in class all day – and you get to work on different skills. Sometimes you might have the ball more to yourself than on a competitive team. You get to develop your individual skills.”

“It’s just a great experience.”

Where teams had nearly double the amount of regular season games in 2024, in part due to a lengthier winter than normal that backed up the start of the 2025 campaign by a week or so, the need to find chemistry quickly cannot be overstated as teams flow quickly from their opening game to their first playoff matchup.

“You have to know the qualities of your teammates if you want to be a good team,” stressed Alexander. “We are trying to get a lot of practices in so we know what our teammates are like.”

And where many of his teammates can be found clamoring for offensive opportunities, such is not the case for the 15 year-old grade 10 student who has played soccer since the age of three.

“I’ve always been a defender, with every sport I played,” said Alexander. “It comes natural to me. Everyone, when they’re a kid, wants to be a striker. They want to put the ball in the back of the net. That’s where the glory is.”

“I’ve always found it much easier to get behind the ball and play it up to my teammates.”

In senior Premier Boys division play, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights, Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes, Lasalle Lancers and St Benedict Bears are all sitting at 2-0-0, the latter having hit the mark thanks to a hard fought 1-0 win over the Confederation Chargers on Tuesday. Mauro Cusinato would net the game’s only goal and keeper Noah Palladino made it stand, recording the clean sheet.

In other action this week, the CND boys served notice they are a force to contend with, walking off with a 1-0 win over St Charles as Lukas Morin handled the offense while a balanced Lasalle offense saw Alameen Salami, Jordan Sampson-Jones, Isaac Contois-Ndlovu and Diego Valle all hit the mark in a 4-1 win over the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères.

Games are set to continue all next week, typically with a starting time of 3:00 p.m. or so at the James Jerome Sports Complex and running through until roughly 9:00 p.m. nightly.