If the true sign of progress is marked by continual improvement, then it's clear that the Sudbury Canadians U-13 Girls are heading in the right direction. Playing their first season of CGSL (Central Girls Soccer League) soccer, coach Ted Leck and the young ladies took it on the chin at the end of May, saddled with double digit defeats in Whitby and Pickering as league play opened.
This past weekend, those same two adversaries were up in Sudbury, with notably different results. Sure, in the end, the Canadians remained on the losing end of the scoreboard. But games of 1-0 and 5-0 provided proof positive that, very quickly, the young Canadians were elevating their level of play much closer to some of the teams who will play in the OYSL (Ontario Youth Soccer League) next year, the elite of minor soccer in the province.
Battling Whitby on Saturday, Sudbury were able to offset, to some extent, the outstanding skill-set of their opponent's top players through a combination of speed and aggressive challenges on the ball. Make no mistake - Whitby were the better team, by a fair margin, but the Canadians kept quality scoring chances to a minimum and received incredible netminding from Megan Coutu in keeping this one close.
While the visitors controlled the tempo of the play early on, Sudbury narrowly missed opening the scoring midway through the first half as a great cross from Sarah Mulvenna sailed just past Paige Querney, moving quickly through the box. Minutes later, Whitby counters with the only goal of the game when a bouncing ball finds keeper Coutu, a Sudbury defender and a Whitby forward converging on the same spot, all at the same time.
The ensuing collision sees the ball squirt loose as Shea Jeffery-Novak taps it into the yawning cage. Jeffery-Novak, a tall, talented outside attacker with speed, presented an on-going challenge for the Sudbury back line, playing well off her teammates and forcing the Canadians to always be vigilant of their defensive positioning.
Thankfully for Leck and company, his wall of defense ahead of Coutu were up to the task at hand, solidified by the interior presence of Jenelle St. Jean and Jennie Philipow and the outside quickness of tough and talkative fullback Courtney Sauve as well as Mackenzie Gallo, playing fullback for the first time this weekend with a couple of players away.
The first half would end with Whitby still holding a 1-0 lead, with Sudbury looking to find an opportunity to counter through the final forty minutes. But the best chances early belong to the visitors as Jeffery-Novak bounces a shot off the post just minutes into the second half. Midway through the frame, goaltender Coutu is at her absolute best as Shae-Lynn Kraemer plays a great through ball to Serra Henderson, with Coutu charging hard to make the save well off her line.
She denies a second chance on the resulting scramble as Whitby keeps the Canadians pinned deep in their own end for several minutes. Sudbury would have one final chance, of sorts, as Mulvenna digs hard for a rebound, but that was as close as the homeside would come, holding their heads high despite a tough 1-0 loss.
Coach Ted Leck was quick, after the game, to praise his troops on their commitment to narrowing the gap with many of best U-13 female soccer players from across Ontario. "Most of the competition in the CGSL, we've played before (indoor winter league ball), but Whitby was a team that we had not seen. We made some adjustments, because they're a real great passing team and they put the ball through to a couple of really fast strikers", explained Leck.
"I think the girls are just playing a much simpler game, executing the fundamentals of soccer - I'm just really proud of them." With a couple of players on holidays and another small handful of key injuries, Leck was forced to run with a relatively short bench, forcing his ladies to step up. By nature, Leck prefers not to single out individual accomplishments, focusing on the effort of the entire roster.
This time, he relented just a little in noting the play of netminder Megan Coutu. "You know, I always tell our keeper to simply try and make all the easy saves and perhaps steal one or two of the really tough ones and she really did that today. I thought she was our MVP in this game", said Leck. Additionally, a fair bit of practice time spent with his defenders, working on recovering on through balls certainly paid dividends on Saturday.
Despite the final score of 5-0, the Sudbury effort on Sunday was not that far off their game the previous day, facing an even more impressive opponent in the Pickering Strikers. The Strikers scored early and often when the teams met back in May and a quick start for the Canadians would be critical. Mission accomplished, as the teams head to the half-time break locked in a scoreless draw.
Unfortunately, a ten to twelve minute lapse early in the second half would prove costly as the floodgates opened with the Strikers scoring four times and adding a late marker to complete the whitewash. Breanne Guevara paced the Pickering attack with a pair of goals, with singles coming from Cassidy Cooke, Danelle Lindo and Simone Work.
The Canadians will look to take the next step forward, attempting to record their first victory in CGSL play when the locals play host to Vaughan (2-3-1) and Unionville-Milliken (3-1-2) next weekend at the Delki Dozzi Sports Complex.
