When the Sudbury Cyclones’ women’s team was announced as the latest entry into League1 Ontario League2 Division play back in January, it was easy to assume that the outfit that would take the field would simply be what has been a long-standing local entry in U21 leagues, now benefitting from a more competitive and more structured environment.
Truth is, the 2025 Sudbury Cyclones women are so much more than that.
“This team has a very unique identity in that we all bring a different perspective,” noted Cassidy Brooks, fresh off as three-goal performance as the Cyclones trounced last-place Unionville-Milliken SC 8-0 Saturday evening at Cambrian College field.
“Being able to share those perspectives is really helpful. The game has changed and continues to change and being able to adapt is important.”
A senior at Nipissing University who scored 15 goals last year for a Lakers team that captured the consolation division at the U Sports championships last November in Halifax, Brooks is currently working on her masters, the need to spend time in North Bay this summer a huge part of the reason why the well-spoken native of Belfountain (just outside of Caledon, Ontario) finds herself as part of this inaugural female Cyclones formation.
“We built a team from scratch with a bunch of ladies coming from different backgrounds, of different ages, with different experiences,” said Brooks. “Most of us have not played together.”
Other than having an awereness of a few of the Laurentian Voyageurs clan who were adversaries in recent OUA fall campaigns, the only true former teammate of the first year Masters of Science in Kinesiology major comes in the form of goalkeeper Noémie Bouchard, the pair having suited up with Vaughan several years ago.
In that sense, the early season results for the Cyclones were likely foreseable.
A Cup loss gave way to an emotional 1-0 triumph in their home opener – followed by five straight setbacks. A 5-2 win over Masters Academy on the heels of a strong showing versus Whitby FC unveiled a month of June that saw Sudbury win three of four and very much looking forward to the four remaining contests that close out the summer.
“I think for us, the start of our season was a test to create our identity,” said Brooks. “To find out what works well and what doesn’t. Now, in the second half of the season, we’re starting to play very well together.”
Bowmanville native Emma Meadows, now 27 year-old and a graduate of the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks program in Jacksonville (Alabama), likely has played as much high level soccer as anyone on this team – and she is in complete lockstep with her new teammate on the assessment of the year to date.
“Over the past couple of months, we’ve really grown as a team,” she said. “We’ve found out playing style, we know our strengths – and we’ve improved a ton. It’s really exciting to see. I kind of wish we could go back and start the season over and replay those early games. I think we would do a ton better.”
Meadows is but one of the women in this mix that adds to the uniqueness and diversity that coach Ross Moynihan and assistants Cole Giffin and Karly Helmstrom are helping to develop over the course of a few months spent together.
With the global pandemic very much an issue as Meadows bid adieu to NCAA competition, some consideration of a professional soccer sojourn to Europe gave way to the more pragmatic reality of a masters degree at the University of Toronto.
Armed with loads of interest in Environmental Science and pretty much anything climate change related, the native of Bowmanville would find work in Sudbury and waded into the local soccer community, be that what it was at the time.
And then came the Cyclones.
“I decided to go to the tryouts, just to see how it goes – and I really connected with Ross and Cole and Karly,” said Meadows. Having used and re-used the word “intense” when describing her time in Jacksonville, the midfielder and attacker through most of her playing days, prior to Sudbury, is enjoying a much different perspective this summer.
“For our older players, it’s fun to see if we can help those younger players achieve the ambitions that they have,” she said. “I have a career; I know I am not going to professional soccer. If I can share the experiences that I had in university, that’s pretty cool – and we learn from them too.”
“It’s brought a lot of joy back into soccer for me,” added Meadows. “I’ve found my love of the game.”
She has also discovered a new home on the pitch, at least for the time being.
As of the past few games, Meadows has anchored the back-line for the Sudbury side, injecting a much appreciated sense of stability that works hand in hand with the more matured approach that she can carry on to the pitch.
“You have the opportunity to dictate the game,” said Meadows. “The ball often starts with you and you have the decision where to go with it. I think that is one of my skills, either sending a through ball and allowing a striker to run on to it or making the decision to pass it upfield for a give and go.”
There is little doubt that the Cyclones offense was in high gear on Saturday, as Kiara Levac matched the hat trick that was posted by Cassidy Brooks while Brooke Dugas and Charlene Frew chipped in with one tally apiece.
The Cyclones will now take their 4-6-0 record into a home match this coming Saturday opposite the Simcoe County Rovers (5-3-2), with start time set for 4:00 p.m. at the Cambrian College field.
