The U-15 OPDL Cup finals and Ontario Summer Games Gold Medal games took place Sunday at the North London Athletic Fields, in London, Ontario.
Oakville Soccer Club took on the North Toronto Soccer Club in the OPDL Cup final and Gold medal game.
Both teams would trade chances early but neither were able to find a way through.
It would take the good work of Oakville’s Adam Plitchtowski who worked the ball down low and danced along the line to break the deadlock. His pass found the foot of Mauro Lulli who made no mistake and finished his chance to make it 1-0 in the 10th minute.
Oakville would increase their lead in the 36th minute when their centreback, Yves-Michel Tcheuyap, made a long, winding individual run which ended with him slotting the ball into the far corner to make it 2-0.
The second half began much the same way as the first, with Oakville controlling large amounts of possession with NTSC looking to find ways to counter attack when available.
Ultimately the Oakville defence would prove to be too organized and solid for NTSC to break down and the match would finish 2-0 in their favour.
Oakville captured the U-15 OPDL Cup and won the gold medal for the Ontario Summer Games.
Burlington Bayhawks would face Richmond Hill in the Ontario Summer Games bronze medal game.
Burlington would capture the bronze medal, defeating Richmond Hill 5-4 in penalties.
The OPDL Cup, in its second year, is a single-game knockout format, which is intended to introduce another level of intense competition into OPDL.
It is designed to help shape and strengthen the players’ response to the kind of environments they will encounter as they progress along the Talented Pathway towards collegiate, professional and national team opportunities.
Following the lead and direction by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport’s “Games Ontario” initiative, Ontario Soccer has re-calibrated entry eligibility into the Ontario Summer Games program to ensure that athletes attending the Ontario Games are the top athletes within a specified age group.
This serves as the initial assessment platform for future athletes in the Canada Games and the Olympic Games.
Visit the Ontario Soccer Facebook page to see all the photos from the final.