The North London Soccer Club has an impressive history of winning Provincial and Canadian National Championships, and so when the North London Boys U14 Elite team, coached by Andrew Loague, won the Ontario Cup and qualified to represent Ontario at the Nationals in Lethbridge, the hope was that they would bring home another Championship.
The team did extremely well to win its group and then its quarter-final game before facing the Quebec Champions in the semis. The final score, in a very exciting game, was 2-2 and so it was left to penalty kicks to decide who would move on to the gold-medal game against Calgary Foothills. In a heartbreaker, North London lost on the ninth penalty kick. The team went on to comfortably win the third-place game against Edmonton Inter and claim the bronze medal, while Quebec cruised to victory in the National final.
The experience of playing in an exciting and demanding National Championship is a lifelong memory for players, and it’s something that North London teams and players are strongly encouraged to aspire to. Teams will be working hard all through the offseason to prepare themselves for the challenge of competing in the Ontario Cup, the winners of which (in the U14, U16, U17 and Women’s divisions) qualify to compete at Nationals.
Building a team capable of winning at the older ages can take years of preparation in the younger age divisions. North London Coaches from U8 and up know the importance of developing good technical skills at an early age, and also of establishing team cohesion and chemistry, and exposing their teams to the best competition they can find. With North London teams qualifying to play in every age/gender division of the Provincial league (OYSL) from U14 to U17 in 2014, it is clear that our coaches at the younger ages have prepared players and teams well. No other Club in Ontario has the level of representation in the top Ontario league that is currently enjoyed by North London.
Amid the changes in league structure due to begin in 2014, North London will continue to focus on developing players and teams that can realistically aspire to compete successfully in the Ontario Cup and at the National Championships. The first year of Ontario Cup competition is U13, and the North London Boys and Girls teams in that age division will experience the excitement and drama that competing for a Provincial Championship provides.
Younger teams will be working hard under their respective coaches throughout the winter so that they, too, in future years can effectively compete with the best teams in the province. Both on the Girls side, with Robyn Brady coaching the U10 and U11 teams and Martin Painter with U12, and on the Boys side, where Sandro D’Alessandro is developing an U1O squad and Jordan Wainright is responsible for U11 and U12 teams, North London has high-quality coaches whose goal is to develop genuinely high-level teams.
Just as the young teams will focus on improving over the winter, so too will the older ones. The North London Galaxy U17 Girls team, with new coach Mike Marcoccia, will have a significantly strengthened team in 2014, and like the other North London OYSL teams, they will have a full indoor training and showcase tournament schedule over the fall and winter. Just as one season ends, another one begins.
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