The magical Ontario Cup run of 2025 would end this past weekend for the GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club) U15 Impact boys – but not without a fight.

After battling their way through three rounds of play at home and on the road, the Impact played FC Toronto to a 2-2 draw last Saturday at Queen’s Athletic Field, before giving way to the GTA crew on penalty kicks.

Samuel Lazare netted both goals for the locals, who failed to capitalize on a PK in regulation time that might have secured the win. No overtime would be played on Sunday as Sudbury and the Barrie Spirit were deadlocked at 3-3, the contest marking the first game of the iModel C2 series of matches that will wrap up the summer.

Josh Arewa, Nathan Estriplet and Daman Lalonde handled the scoring for coach Nigel Croome and company as the team takes to the road this weekend to continue through their final leg of the summer schedule.

With a larger than normal turnover of talent, the U17 Impact boys are also very much looking forward to the tail-end of their season, the first summer in which this team has made the jump to iModel play.

“It was a little bit of a slower start this summer,” acknowledged team veteran Emmanuel Boamah, who has settled in nicely as a centerback these days. “As the season is progressing, we’re getting better and better with each other.”

Born in Nigeria but moving to Canada some six years ago, Boamah is not among those of African descendance who arrived blessed with a decent helping of soccer experience from back in his home county.

At the time the family moved to Sudbury to begin his grade seven year, the 16 year-old who will be tackling his final year at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School starting this fall had never truly been exposed to the game beyond kicking a ball around with his dad.

“I had a neighbour who played with GSSC so I walked to one of his practices and spoke to Giuseppe (Politi – club head coach),” said Boamah. “The first few practices were hot and I was running a lot, so I had to go sit down. But I loved the competitive nature of it. I wanted to fight for a spot and a chance to play in games.”

Wait a second – the practices in Sudbury were hot, even compared to Nigeria?

“It was hotter in Nigeria – but I wasn’t moving around like that,” laughed Boamah.

Thanks to some four years of experience, the ultra-polite young teen is able to approach his movements on the pitch in a more efficient manner, understanding exactly what is required – say, for instance, when his team is defending a corner kick.

“You have to let the guy you are marking know that you are there before the corner kick is taken – just to put him off a little,” explained Boamah. “Then, just track the ball all the way to when it’s within a head shot.”

The U17 Impact are coming off a tough 3-0 loss to Bryst Academy in a contest last weekend that remained scoreless through to the 75th minute. On Saturday, the team is back in action at 3:00 p.m. at the Delki Dozzi Sports Complex, the second half of a twin-bill, leaving on Sunday for a road game in Toronto.

“This year is a good challenge with the first year of iModel,” said Boamah. “We’re facing guys that are better and some teams that we match up nicely against. It’s a good opportunity for development and recognition.”

Still with the U17 Impact boys, a shoutout to multi-sport talent Masimo Toffoli who recently attended the First Touch Football (soccer) offering that was taking place in Brampton, recognized as the Player of the Game in one of the encounters that he participated. Toffoli and teammate Alessandro Moretta were both on hand for the three-day event.

Also making their first appearance in the iModel stream this summer, the GSSC U13 Impact boys appear ready to make a statement in terms of wanting to earn a promotion from the C2 ranks by the end of their schedule.

Kicking off this segment last weekend, the northern lads trounced both King United (6-1) and Bryst Academy (5-0) and will add road games on July 19th and 20th (KO Football Academy and Newmarket S.C.) to their resume.

Gaddiel Appiah-Hagan drilled home the hat trick in the game one victory, with teammate Emmanuel George adding a pair of strikes and Yuvraj Singh capping things off on Saturday.

Some of those boys were right back at it the next day as Emmanuel George (2) and Gaddiel Appiah-Hagan (1) were joined on the scoresheet by Maximus Georgievski (2 goals), providing plenty of support for keeper Clarke Lowen, who earned the clean sheet.

The Impact U14 girls expect to find themselves in a dogfight for points this month and next, having cracked the C1 level of iModel play. After opening this set of games with a win, the team is set to host a pair of quality opponents in the form of Vaughan SC (Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at Queen’s AF) and the Barrie Spirit (Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at James Jerome).

Finally, the U17 girls caught a break, of sorts, as the Welland Wizards have forfeited their road game in Sudbury this weekend. Combined with a two-win six-point effort two weeks ago, coach Doug Rosener and the young ladies now find themselves in second place in iModel play.

The team has just three games remaining, including a huge showdown with first place Vaughan SC on June 26th in Sudbury followed by a trek to the GTA the following weekend. After playing into October in 2024, none of this crew are complaining about a nice early wrap to their 2025 campaign, with several of the locals heading off to post-secondary institutions near and far in late August.