Also: Muskoka United, Huntsville SC, High School Soccer, the Canadian Women’s Team, Mid-week Mayhem in England and Italy, U.S. Open Cup, and more

A few weeks ago, when I mentioned to my Huntsville Strikers U11 Girls team that we were attending a soccer festival in Woodbridge, I also noted it was very likely the competition would be quite good.

I told them it was a great way to finish up the summer season, playing a couple of games against some teams from another district.

One of our players, Aleah, mentioned winning the games. Fully expecting to be matched up against very strong competition, I joked that “if we win one game in Woodbridge, I’ll throw a parade.”

Well, we won both games at the festival and played very, very well. The first was a 5-1 win over Oak Ridges where Paulina Juszczak scored three, Juliet Occhiuzzi scored one, and the other team had an own goal against.

The second we beat TOP Titans (a mid-town Toronto club) 1-0 in a tougher match with Juszczak scoring the lone goal – though our team did create several chances.

So, it’s not a parade, but the lead feature in the weekly Football Friday column will have to do for now (hehehehe). Plus, we had a very fun and laid-back practice on Tuesday.

This team came a long way this season. Yes, yes, I’m the coach of this team so there is definitely a conflict of interest. But their continuous efforts to grow and improve should be applauded.

We started 0-7 in the league along with two more losses at an early season festival in Barrie, but kept working hard and eventually the results came. And it was tough as five of those losses were one-goal games that could have easily been in our favour.

Including the wins in Woodbridge, the girls finished with five straight wins and unbeaten in seven.

Myself and team manager Sarah Smith are extremely proud of how hard they worked this year and all the great games they played (even when the result didn’t go our way).

We know the parents on our team are very proud of their children as well. This year’s U11 Girls team consisted of Abigail (Absauce) Smith, Aleah Thompson, Avery Buczek, Avery Holik, Ellie Nichol, Heidi Hemington, Juliet Occhiuzzi, Lily Boyes, Marie-Claire Alexander, Mercy Turnbull, Paisley Whyte, Paulina Juszczak, Piper Heffernen, Sarah Archambault, Savannah Loates, and Sophie Earl.

MPS High School Soccer Results

The Muskoka-Parry Sound high school soccer season kicked off this week with the Huntsville Hoyas getting a 2-0 win over the Almaguin Highlanders. Goals were scored by Johnny Fiorini and Dante Occhiuzzi.

MUFC Updates

The U17 Girls drew 0-0 against Whitby at Gostick Park on Wednesday. It was another clean sheet for the team (their fourth straight), and it was goalkeeper Norah Moeller’s league leading fifth shutout. The girls have two games left on the I-Model schedule: October 4 in Vaughan and October 11 at Gostick Park against Lake Simcoe.

The U13 Girls played on September 25 at Gostick Park against Ajax. Their next match is Saturday, September 30 at Conroy Park against Unionville at 4 p.m.

The U15 boys lost 5-0 to Kleinburg Nobleton SC in Brampton on Tuesday night to finish up a very tough I-Model season.

MUFC assessments held on September 23. The experience was “very enjoyable” and “fun” according to several players from the U15 and U17 teams.

The club’s board has indicated that next year’s coaching staffs, rosters and other pertinent information will be announced soon.

For the rep development age groups, the next MUFC Development Day takes place at Conroy Park in Huntsville on Saturday, October 21.

MUFC Technical Lead Ray Wright will be running the show. There will also be fun games such as a radar gun to test your shot speed.

Arrive early to the appropriate time to register, which will be followed by a 15-minute coach-led warm-up and then an hour with Coach Ray.

Times for October 21 are U9/U10 Boys – 10:45 a.m.; U9/U10 Girls – 11:45 a.m.; U11/U12 Boys – 12:45 p.m.; and U11/U12 Girls – 1:45 p.m.

Huntsville Soccer Club AGM on October 4

This year’s Huntsville Soccer Club AGM will be held via video conferencing on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. via Microsoft Teams call. 

All players, coaches and families of youth players are welcome to attend, as well as anyone interested in learning more about the Club. A link to the video call will be sent out the week before the meeting.

It’s an opportunity for the community to get involved with a fun group of individuals and as members of the club’s executive committee.

Up for election are the voting positions of Vice President, Minor Soccer Director, Head Club Coach, Adult Coordinator, Diversity & Inclusion Officer, and Treasurer.

Opportunities exist in taking on other roles for the club that require seasonal or limited commitments, including Equipment Manager and Field Scheduler. 

Anyone interested in joining the club’s executive committee or becoming a volunteer in another fashion can email administrator@huntsvillesoccer.ca

Team Canada – Women’s Team updates

Cheers to the Canadian Women’s National Team for qualifying for the Olympics for the fifth straight time with a 2-1 win over Jamaica in Toronto on Tuesday night. They cruised to victory over the two-legged play-in tie with a 4-1 aggregate score, having won 2-0 in Jamaica last Friday.

It was a solid response for the Canadian women and defending Olympic Champions after a very disappointing World Cup performance. Now, they’ll look to prepare and should perform better in Paris than they did down under this summer.

The crowd on Tuesday night at BMO Field with 29,212 fans in attendance was the largest crowd ever for a national team match in the Province of Ontario.

Canada join hosts France, CONCACAF Champions USA, and COMENBOL’s top-two nations Brazil and Colombia as the already qualified nations. Seven more nations will qualify for the 12-team event; two from Europe, two from Asia, two from Africa, and one from Oceania.

Mid-Week Mayhem

No UEFA competitions this week meant a bunch of action in domestic play – be it cup or league – and some surprising results took place.

Two Premier League sides were knocked out of the League Cup in England by lower division clubs on Tuesday with third-tier League One side Exeter City sneaking a late goal to beat Luton Town, while second tier, and second place Championship side Ipswich Town took down Wolves 3-2.

On Wednesday, Newcastle took down Manchester City 1-0, though it should be noted that Citizens didn’t play their full first 11.

Full results and upcoming fixtures can be found at: https://www.efl.com/competitions/carabao-cup

In Italy, Sassuolo grabbed an improbable 2-1 over Inter Milan at the San Siro on Wednesday, allowing AC Milan to move into a first-place tie with their city rivals in Serie A. Then on Thursday, I almost threw my TV out the window as Genoa defeated AS Roma 4-1 (the first win by Genoa over Roma since 2014). I will refrain any more typing about the worst start to a Serie A season in Roma’s history until next week (as I’m hoping they win both their games between now and then).

Spanish La Liga action on Tuesday saw first place Barcelona drop points away to 15^th place Mallorca and had to come from behind to snag a 2-2 draw away from home in a match they were favoured to win. Meanwhile, Girona’s surprising start to the season continued as they won 2-1 away to Villareal on Wednesday and sit alone at the top of the table.

Looking Ahead – Big Matches Coming Up

Saturday sees Milan host Lazio at noon in Serie A (FuboTV Canada); Tottenham host Liverpool at 12:30 p.m. (FuboTV Canada); Leipzig hosts Bayern Munich in Bundesliga action at 12:30 p.m. (DAZN Canada); and Monaco hosts Marseille in Ligue 1 play at 3 p.m. (FuboTV Canada).

Also Saturday, in MLS, the 7:30 p.m. matches with major playoff implications feature Inter Miami vs New York, Columbus vs Philadelphia, and Orlando City vs Montreal, while Nashville vs Seattle (8:30 p.m.) and Vancouver vs DC United (10:30 p.m.) are others to pay attention to (MLS Season Pass on AppleTV has all the coverage).

Of course, there are the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League matches mid-week to check out on DAZN Canada

We’re partial to watching Napoli vs Real Madrid on Tuesday, plus Dortmund-Milan and Newcastle-PSG on Wednesday.

Thursday’s preferred matches to view are AS Roma-Servette (for obvious reasons), Marseille-Brighton, AEK Athens-Ajax, Sporting-Atalanta, Fiorentina-Ferencvaros, and Aston Villa-Zrinjski.

Full schedule, results and standings available at www.uefa.com

US Open Cup

The Houston Dynamo beat Inter Miami 2-1 as Lionel Messi nursed an injury. Though Miami has lost two matches since Messi arrived, he did not play in either of them, thus he is still undefeated in North American soccer action since joining the Herons of Miami.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading!

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