Making the jump from the Regional level to Provincial level of the OWSL (Ontario Women's Soccer League), the Sudbury Canadians were a confident lot back in May, sprinkled with a touch of apprehension of the unknown that would lie ahead.

As the group now disperses with the end of their regular season campaign, it is with a sense of accomplishment that players will head off to their various destinations.

The Canadians secured second place in the OWSL with a weekend sweep of Unionville Milliken Red Strikers, thumping the cellar dwellars 7-1 and 7-0.

Once again, it was the presence of the top-end offensive abilities of the Sudbury crew that would make the biggest difference. Cloe Lacasse paced the attack on Saturday with a five goal effort, with Serena San Cartier and Karolyne Blain adding a goal apiece.

Same trio, front and centre, again on Sunday as Lacasse (4 goals), San Cartier (2) and Blain handle the offense. Little surprise that the Canadians led the league in scoring with 60 goals, 15 better than the league champion Markham Lightning.

But it was the Lightning, undefeated with a record of 11-0-3, that would finish ahead of the local crew, seven points back with a record of 9-3-2. Sudbury also came within a win of advancing to the Ontario Cup final last weekend, dropping a 4-2 decision to Oakville.

While the likes of Lacasse (U of Iowa), Blain (Cape Breton) and San Cartier (Oakland U) were all heading out of town shortly after the game, others will remain much closer to home.

A seven year veteran of the Canadians program and recent graduate of St Charles College, defender Madison Beaudry heads off to Laurentian come the fall, hooking up with teammates Ashley Melnek and Samantha Innocent with the Lady Vees.

"This summer was mainly to work on my defensive skills, because I will be playing for Laurentian in the fall and they play a different system than what Frank (Malvaso) plays," Beaudry said.

With experience playing both the inside and outside positions on the back line, Beaudry maintains a clear cut preference, based on her years of experience.

"I definitely like the inside better," she said. "I find you get to see more of the field, get to do more things, I guess." With numbers becoming increasingly difficult to maintain as the young ladies grow older, the Canadians welcomed an injection of youth this year, built around a core of players, like Beaudry, who are intricately familiar with one another.

"Because many of us have been together for six or seven years, I guess we just got to learn about each other, about the different aspects of each other and learned to get along after that many years," Beaudry said.

With a league championship and an Ontario Cup title still on the table as potential goals left to achieve, it will be interesting to see the crew that reassembles come May of 2012.