By Dan Plouffe
The Ottawa South United Force and West Ottawa Warriors under-14 boys’ Ontario Player Development League teams wrote yet another piece of history for local soccer this season. For the first time ever, squads from Eastern Ontario finished 1-2 in a top-tier provincial youth soccer division.
The 16-4-2 Force topped the OPDL east division standings, while the Warriors were next in line with their 14-5-3 record.
“It’s more recognition that what we’re doing here in Ottawa is having some results,” states OSU club head coach Paul Harris, noting that an unprecedented 33 players from his club’s four OPDL teams have been selected for the provincial program’s identification camp. “There is some talent here and we’re starting to see some opportunities come from it.”
While the Force outscored opponents by a combined 76 goals, it wasn’t quite enough to secure the overall OPDL title. OSU finished one point behind the west conference champions from Richmond Hill, and although the two division winners did face off for a “charity shield” game at the end of the season, the official champion had already been determined.
“We would have liked to be there in the record books,” notes Harris, who wasn’t a fan of the odd east vs west contest that didn’t count for anything, although he says ultimately “it was our fault. We didn’t perform on the day.”
That day was Nov. 8 at Carleton University when the Force had a chance to clinch the title with a win, but could other muster a 2-2 draw with Kleinburg Nobleton.
“They had it within their control, but it was one of those days where nothing seemed to go in,” recounts Harris, whose Force boys averaged 4.5 goals per game. “Next year they know they have to be even better.”
Local talent challenges T.O.
West Ottawa OPDL coordinator and coach Kwame Telemaque was equally impressed to see two Ottawa teams at the top of the table.
“It just shows that there’s a lot of talent in this city,” he underlines. “We’re obviously kind of underneath the shadow of our big brother in Toronto most of the time, and rightfully so, they’ve got the population and the resources as well.
“But it shows we’re not far behind at all in Ottawa. It shows that a lot of the clubs in the area are doing some very good things.”
Those type of words stand in stark contrast to comments made prior to the OPDL’s kickoff, when local clubs pretty much unanimously worried about how the depth of the local talent pool would stack up compared to the GTA.
Now OSU and West Ottawa aren’t just keeping up, they are consistently beating their southern Ontario rivals.
Constant travel down to Toronto was another unpopular aspect, but Force U14 boys’ coach Simon Wilshaw has even found a positive in that. His players hated that long drive home so much after a loss last season that they were doubly motivated not to have that bitter taste linger in their mouths coming back down Hwy. 401 this year.
Another driving force for his champion squad, Wilshaw adds, is the particularly close bond between his troops.
“They all hang out with each other,” explains the England-raised coach. “When you’re playing with your mates, you’ll fight that much harder and want to win that much more.”
Having a wide arsenal of offensive weapons was another key for the Force. Danny Assaf (with 25) and Luca Nicastro (23) topped the league-wide scoring race, while Antonio Carlini and Bryan Sun also hit double-digit goal totals.
“It’s great to have so many good players on the team because it makes you work harder and you become better individually,” highlights Assaf, who echoes his coach’s feelings about the team’s tight-knit nature. “These guys are family to me. They’re my brothers. Without them, I don’t know what I’d be doing.”
Warriors rise
While OSU gets to say they were 1st, the Warriors’ 2nd-place finish is perhaps equally or more impressive. Although the scores weren’t official kept last year at the U13 level, West Ottawa was fairly soundly outperformed by OSU when they met last season.
This year, the Warriors rose to be OSU’s biggest challengers in the east.
Telemaque says a lot of the credit for the transformation has to go to the team’s new coach this season, Chris Roth.
“He worked a lot of magic,” Telemaque signals. “There weren’t a lot of new players coming in, he just worked with that group of boys and got them focused on the challenge, and they took it on full steam ahead.”
OSU and West Ottawa both recorded solid 3rd and 4th-place finishes respectively in U14 girls’ play as well.
“All four OPDL teams we had this year, every team was competitive, and every team went toe-to-toe against the best teams in the league,” Telemaque notes. “It was definitely an exceptional year for West Ottawa.”
While the league doesn’t release the OPDL standings at the U13 level, those who keep track would have found the OSU boys at the very top.
“That was a great achievement,” Harris underlines. “Even though the league won’t recognize it, we’ve recognized it internally to show the great season we had.”
Soccer soars in Ottawa
For years and years, Ottawa teams struggled mightily in the Ontario Youth Soccer League, but a marked shift has occurred in recent years. OSU’s 1998-born girls broke the ice in 2012 with the region’s first division title, and the triumphs have grown consistently since then.
“I think it bodes well for the city of Ottawa that there are two teams that can compete,” Harris reflects. “It used to be hard enough in OYSL to get one squad. I would say maybe that’s how Ottawa is moving forward.”
The results for Ottawa’s third OPDL franchise, the Nepean Hotspurs, were not nearly as rosy. But like the OPDL mandates, the Hotspurs are glad to have more time to develop their players and teams without the fear of being booted from the league as would have been the case in the past promotion-relegation system.
“We are very excited to keep improving our program, and look forward to further development of our players,” the Hotspurs state in a club news release about their continued OPDL involvement.
Danone 6th equals Canada best
West Ottawa midfielder Keera Melenhorst and Ottawa South United goalkeeper Luka Vujicic, who recently joined the Montreal Impact’s youth academy, helped Canada equal its all-time best showing at the Danone Nations Cup, billed as the world’s biggest soccer tournament for players age 10-12.
The Canadians finished atop their group with a victory over China and draws against Romania and Indonesia, and then advanced through to the quarter-finals with a 12-11 penalty kicks triumph over USA before a 2-0 defeat to Mexico knocked them from title contention. A win over Germany and a penalty kicks loss to Spain gave Canada a 6th-place finish at the October event in Morocco and matched its previous best result in 2011.