The Sudbury Canadians schedule just got a little busier. Already struggling trying to fit their remaining OWSL (Ontario Women's Socccer League) games in before the end of July as post-secondary players start to make their way back to their respective varsity teams, the Canadians complicated matters for next weekend.

Mind you, it was a good complication, one brought on by a 3-2 Ontario Cup win, at home, on Sunday as the locals eliminated the Pickering Power. The OSA (Ontario Soccer Association) Ontario Cup competition takes precedence, and now calls for Sudbury to face the winner of today's Mississauga Dixie Athletics/Oakville Hornets game next Saturday.

The winner of that semi-final encounter in Vaughan will advance to the Ontario Cup final on Sunday at 3:00 p.m., also at the Soccer Centre in Vaughan. Unfortunately, the Canadians are also scheduled to face Oshawa Turul in a pair of games next weekend, working their way through the balance of the OWSL campaign.

They will leave sorting this out to the schedule makers. In the meantime, they can celebrate a solid win over Pickering on the turf of the James Jerome Sports Complex.

Playing in the blistering heat on Sunday, Sudbury enjoyed the best of the opportunities early, though unable to capitalize. A perfect corner kick from Karolyne Blain in the 17th minute found the head of Stacey Watson, who drilled it directly at the Pickering keeper.

About 10 minutes later, Blain, moved up to striker to start the game, displayed her natural athleticism, stripping a Pickering defender clean and then working her inside body position to create a good scoring chance.

Substitutions late in the first half had Blain moving back to interior midfield, while Cloe Lacasse advanced to striker. That move paid dividends in the 39th minute as Lacasse is sent free on a lovely through ball, sidestepping the netminder before drilling the ball off the shin guards of the final defender.

Fortunately, the rebound comes right back to the soon-to-be Iowa Hawkeye, who made no mistake drilling her second shot home. Despite a limited attack, Pickering made the most of their best chance of the opening half, picking up a loose ball off a mad scramble from a corner kick in the 45th minute.

Mariam El Masri is positioned at just the right spot, rifling a shot to the top left hand corner of the net as the teams begin second half play tied at one.

Lacasse took control of the game quickly in the final 45 minutes, tapping in a chip from Watson and then sliding home the hat trick minutes later as Sudbury built up a 3-1 lead.

The score remained that way until the dying minutes when Sarah Bedford provided the visitors with a glimmer of hope, but only for the remaining three minutes or so as the Canadians hold on to pick up their second Ontario Cup win of the summer.