North London boys take aim

 

By Geoff Painter

After several years in which the North London Soccer Club’s (NLSC’s) best chance of success at the provincial and national level has been with its girls’ and women’s teams, 2013 sees the emergence of its boys’ teams with the ambition and ability to seriously compete for Ontario Cup and Canadian National Championship titles.
The NLSC Dynamite Boys U15 and the North London Elite U16 Boys OYSL teams are, at time of writing, unbeaten in their OYSL Provincial League games. Both teams have coaches who bring invaluable experience to their teams and know what it takes to compete at the top level. Jeff Cambridge, who took the North London Cobras to the U16 Ontario Cup title and National Championship silver medal in 2007, coaches the U16 Boys while FC London Coach Martin Painter leads the U15 Boys.
The talented U14 Elite Boys team is also a genuine contender for the coveted title of Ontario Cup Champion. In U14, as with the U16 age division, winning brings the added bonus of competing in the Canadian National Championships.  Of the previous seven gold medals won by NLSC teams in National Championships, only one has been won by a boys’ team. This may be the year to start to even that up!
The U13 Boys, coached by Bobby Ferreira, and the U18 Boys, brought together by manager Rob Petrella for a final season of youth league play, are both doing well in the West Region league. Each may well have the potential to spring a surprise and upset the more-favoured teams in Ontario Cup play. There are also second North London teams entered in both U14 and U16 divisions that, while not expected to win the competition, are gaining valuable experience, and are capable of being the giant killers that make Cup games across the world so special.

The U11 team. Top row
(l-r): Coach Andrew Loague, Sam Ponting, Sebastian Dabrowski, Marco Daynes, Andrew Devito, Oliver Griffith, Mateja Milidrag, Connor Olsen, Noah Vandertuin, Alex Botayiz, Nicholas Thibadeau, Rory Welsh, Tyler Macmillan, Igor Tasic, Nathan Bannan,and Coach Jordan Wainright. Second row (l-r): Duncan Naudie, Evan Stomp, Ethan krijinen, Seth Willis-Rogers, Michael Sorrentino, Connor Millar, Vasilas Kyriakapolous, Thomas Burnett, Ayden Ermers, Jaiden Skinner, Kyle Yakubowski, Jettsen Webber and Coach Barry Heffernan. First row (l-r): Azhar Suielman, Jack Evans, Claudio McCray, Kyle Comeau, Karsten Kruska, Liam Talbot, Dylan Devito, Mitchell Ryzer, Adam Sawyer, Darren Beattie, Joey Stimac, Will Heffernan and Jalen Loague

Outstanding North London boys’ teams are also evident in the age divisions that are too young for Ontario Cup competition. In the U11 age division, coaches Jordan Wainright and Andrew Loague are providing a high quality developmental base for talented young players. They are well on the way to producing a top-level team that will seriously compete with the best in the province in future years.  Similar promise is evident in the U10, U9 and U8 Boys, making this the best collection of NLSC boys’ teams in the club’s history.

It is clear is that when talented and committed boys are concentrated in an effective developmental environment with top-level coaches, then the boys can compete with the best in the province just as effectively and successfully as the girls have over the past fifteen years.