As September hits, most of the Sudbury soccer scene has closed up shop for the summer – or is very quickly winding things down.

Most – but not all.

Post-secondary teams at Laurentian University, Cambrian College and now Collège Boréal all partake in fall seasons. And there is, as we found out yesterday, the upcoming Greater Sudbury Community World Cup Tournament set for the evening of September 12th – and a full day of action on the 13th.

September 12th is also home opener day for the Cambrian Shield, with the women hosting the Algonquin Wolves from Ottawa at 1:00 p.m. and the men’s teams from both schools going toe to toe at 3:30 p.m., all at the Cambrian field.

The Shield women’s team is looking to build on a season in which they won four of their last five games, overcoming an 0-5 start to secure a cross-over playoff matchup with the Humber Hawks. Though dispatched in a tough showdown with the perennial OCAA powerhouse, the Cambrian girls return a nice core of talent, including 2025 leading scorer Delaney Elliott.

“I think the starting point with any team, especially with female sports, is the energy that you build off one another,” noted the 20 year-old third year Nursing major from Sault Ste Marie.

“We have two fantastic captains – Brooke (Dugas) and Molly (Watson) – great leaders who are really good at setting an example for the younger girls who are coming in. And the older girls that are here really support them, which is nice to see.”

A former female athlete of the year as an engrained member of the Korah Colts athletic family, Elliott has been around enough to know that the collegiate ranks will always welcome a healthy class of new recruits, with the possibility of a few more walk-ons joining the team before league play gets started.

“We have so many new, fresh faces,” said Elliott. “We’re hoping to bring something new this year, whether that is positioning on the field or just how we play. We will have a chance to coordinate things with a lot of different kinds of players coming in from a lot of different places.”

In her particular case, a hometown that is just over three hours away offers some inherent bonuses. “The opportunity to play in front of my family is a big thing,” said Elliott. “I feel so much more comfortable when they are here – and it makes me want to work even harder when my mom is watching me.”

Truth be told, the Shield might opt to rent a shuttle bus to bring in the Sault Ste Marie fan base as newcomer Alexa O’Dell joins Lock City mainstays Delaney Elliott, Chelsea Kennedy and Molly Watson on the team this year.

“Cambrian is fairly close to home,” said O’Dell, an 18 year-old product of a Soo Civics system that often had their girls’ teams travelling to games in Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and the like. “I wanted to go away (for school) – but at the same time, I wanted to stay a little close to home.”

“This is a nice distance where I can go away and still feel like I am not that far from home.”

An outside defender who is not particularly tall, O’Dell has adapted her game to ensure that she capitalizes on her strengths as an athlete. “I have to use my body and just try and get in front of the ball before they do,” she said. “And if not, I have to run back really fast.”

“But I have learned how to read it – and I am not even sure how to explain it.”

As of today’s date, the Cambrian women’s roster also includes Olivia Skinkle, Caitlin Lloyd, Kenna MacNeil, Abby Wood, Sophie Simo, Jamie Hopkins, Danica Whitton, Lauren Kennedy, Abby Godfrey, Ainslee Buchan and head coach Jason Garforth.

The Cambrian men also needed an end of season surge, victorious in their final two regular season games to secure a playoff berth with a record of 3-5-2 before being unceremoniously dumped by the St Clair Saints following a long post-season trek to Windsor last October.

Where the women’s team is an almost even mix of vets and rookies, the men’s team will take to the pitch with a completely new look, with only the international duo of Onas Onaolapo (Burundi) and Christian Nyonzima (Republic of Congo) returning from 2025.

That said, coach Garforth is welcoming local products and former L.U. Voyageurs Carter Grenier and Braxton Ragogna to the fold, along with Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School graduate and fellow GSSC Impact product Luca Cucullo.

From further away comes keeper Nicholas Santos, a 19 year-old who grew up in Vancouver but has played in B.C., Switzerland and at Portage College (Alberta) last fall. With his father based in Kitchener, Santos jumps on to a squad where he may be quite busy as the last line of defense.

“I just try and focus on my role and what I can do to help the team,” said the young man who took fll advantage of an exchange program in Europe to further expand his soccer skill-set. “I’ve always had good coaches, telling me what I had to do – and I’ve always been good at listening to what the coach tells me to do.”

“I’m a really good shot stopper, really good with my feet and very composed,” added Santos. “Strikers will not want to press me. I will get behind any shot that I can. I will push myself to get there.”

First year Business Administration student Cameron Chaput is not travelling nearly as far to get to Sudbury, making his way up from Oshawa where he was heavily scouted by Garforth. “Jason was one of the first people I was in contact with so I showed him a lot of loyalty because I have gotten to know him pretty well,” said the 18 year-old midfielder.

“I have a couple of buddies who played for the team last season, so I knew the environment that he had here. That pretty much made my decision.”

More of a defensive midfielder by nature, Chaput suggested that there are certain parts of his game where he is likely to put emphasis as he looks to develop within the OCAA landscape.

“Being more physical and getting better at challenges,” he said. “I think that’s the only thing that is holding me back a little. Honestly, it’s just a matter of being patient, not diving in, waiting for them to make the first move and then follow them.”

The balance of the Cambrian men’s soccer roster is composed of Diego Valle, Gian Sostino, Anthony Francis, Axel Moncada, Fernando Valle, Micah Marshall, Bryan Perez, Gabe Miller, Leeroy Ndlovu and Mathieu Pinard.