In the opening match of the Calgary Family Day tournament NSD United U10A Boys faced Edmonton's current league leaders, Edmonton Xtreme. In a thrilling match NSD prevailed 6-4. Next up saw arch rivals Calgary Villains and United yet again battle it out in an exciting “edge of your seat” encounter with United prevailing in a come from behind 5-4 win. In the final round-robin game United swept Airdrie Aztecs aside in a lopsided affair.

Clan went 4-0 and won Gold in an exciting final 3-3 tie game settled in a shoot-out. Fantastic individual and team efforts carried the group through the long weekend event.

The girls have been working very hard in training the past two weeks preparing for this tournament and continuing their quest for a provincial birth. Renegades started the tournament with a convincing 6-0 win and for the balance of the tournament their sights were set on GOLD. Second place was not an option against a very tenacious SWU team. The girls won the final 3-0 and played a masterpiece of a game. From keeper to striker all positions were played to perfection both offensively and defensively.

Congratulations to the GU-14 Orioles who went 4 – 0 to win the Gold Medal in the Camrose Rock Around the Clock Tournament. 

After falling behind by three goals to the home team the Orioles rallied with four unanswered goals to defeat Camrose 4 to 3. The relentless teamwork and individual efforts showed the commitment and determination of the players. Great work girls!

The 3:00 AM kick-off was an extraordinary experience for Players, Coaches and Parents.

Our GU14 tier 1 1996 Saints coached by Stephanne Demers win GOLD in Saskatoon.

We headed to Saskatoon on a beautiful Friday afternoon and left Monday morning after the worst winter blizzard in recent years for the city of Saskatoon.

The picture illustrates a focused NSDSC squad watching two teams from the GU14 tier one cross over pool. We simply could not believe the level of play. We later found out who they were. One team was from Saskatoon and was their national team. The other team was the top team from Edmonton playing in their EIYSA league. Saints had to play Saskatoon in the semi-final. We played our best soccer of the year and defeated them 3-2 in regulation time. The final was set between Edmonton and Calgary and the Saints won 3-2 in a thrilling double overtime.

It was a successful tournament on many fronts for our NSD Heat GU12 team. The girls played a great tournament bringing home the Bronze Medal. They had a good mix of competition at the tournament including one team from a higher Tier, a couple of teams from their own playoff tier and a spunky younger team. The Heat started with an impressive 4-3 victory over the the higher Tier team. This was followed up by their best game of the tournament against the highly rated Rangers in which they lost but carried momentum forward. After a heart breaking one goal loss in the next game, the girls knew they needed a superior effort in the final game and they got it from everyone on the team for a 4-0 victory earning them the Bronze Medal.

The girls showed determination and skill as they battled in every game prompting the Coach to say " each player's individual skills improved and you are starting to gel as a team." Coaches and parents are proud of the Heat's accomplishment as should be every member of the "THE TEAM YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT  ........   GOOOOOO  HEAT  !!"

Although the Lethbridge Tournament was officially cancelled, the Saints 98 team still made it to Lethbridge despite the weather and made the most of the weekend by playing four games against a most appreciative host city. 

The Lethbridge club managed to put together a mix of teams for us to play by combining their Tier 1-3 girls and called it a minnie tournament.  Our girls performed exceptionally, winning 3 and tying 1 with the final game decided on a long kick over the head of their goaltender with 6.5 seconds left, well done Sydney!   Overall all, it was an excellent chance for our team to put to use what they have been learning in academy and practice sessions, not to mention the valuable experience of team building.  Keep up the hard work girls, the best is yet to come and thank you from all the parents for an exciting weekend!

The NSD Soccer Club had an extremely successful weekend at the Red Deer Indoor Kick-off tournament held November 26th – 28th.

The NSD United U10 Tier A boys went undefeated in the tournament in dominant fashion. Playing against Edmonton based teams Xtreme, Southwest Sting and Spruce Grove the boys outscored the opposition 28 to 9. There were no medals for this age group but they were by far the class of the competition. NSD Celtic 98’s Tier 1 U12 boys repeated as Champions. Celtic successfully defeated Edmonton's top team and then beat the home town Red Deer Renegades in round-robin play to advance to the gold medal game. With high expectations and a tremendous work-rate Celtic

managed to defeat the talented Rangers FC and repeat as champions. Well done boys.

At the U14 Boys Tier 1 Level the NSD Rangers 96 team out performed everyone to claim Gold. The NSD Rangers 96 started the tournament against one of the provinces strongest teams, Edmonton SWU and came out with a hard fought  4-1 victory. Next the Rangers beat their cross town rivals the Calgary Blizzard and then defeated the hometown Red Deer Renegades to capture gold.  Rangers scored an impressive 27 goals while only conceding one goal against.  High tempo and good movement were key to Rangers success. 

The Tier 1 Boys U16 NSD United entered the Red Deer Indoor Kick-Off tournament. When no other Tier 1 teams entered the tournament, the boys accepted the challenge of playing in the U18 Tier 2 division. The boys enjoyed a highly competitive weekend. They edged the host 2-1 in their opening game Saturday afternoon. They followed this up with a 1-1 tie against their Provincial rivals, the Sherwood Park Phoenix, scoring a goal in the final minute to even the match. They clinched the gold medal when they won their final game against the Medicine Hat Crusaders 3-0. In preparation for the tournament, the boys’ training was focused on the team’s defensive shape. The hard worked paid off by allowing only 2 goals in 3 games.

An excellent measure of a great team is the ability to recover and carry on in the face of adversity.   The Orioles were dealt some serious adversity in the first game of the tournament in the form of a 6 – 1 defeat by a very solid Hamptons United squad.  The girls pulled together and improved their team game in each of the next two games and earned a spot in the Gold medal game with the same Hamptons United team.   It was a fast and at times physical game (come back soon Olivia!) but our girls were very deserving of the 2 to nil winning score.  Well done Orioles!

A huge congratulations goes out to the GU12 SAINTS 98 Tier 2/3 squad for winning Silver in the 2009 CMSA Wild Turkey Cup Tournament.  The entire team exhibited a high level of tenacity and team work from start to finish allowing a mere 5 goals in 4 games.  Job Well Done Girls! 

The result would not have been possible without the leadership of the coaching staff in bringing the team together so early in the season.  Thanks Pat, Jon, and Stefan for all you do.

Congrats to the BU14 Roughnecks Tier 3/4 for winning the GOLD MEDAL in the 2009 CMSA Wild Turkey Cup Tournament, including 2 shut out games!

 The Girls U16 Force had a very strong summer in league play where they went through the playoff round without a loss or tie (8 wins) while allowing only 1 goal to win Gold in Tier 3.  They also picked up a Bronze medal at the Camrose Night Classic. 
Force then flew out to Langley B.C. on the September long weekend and played in the Silver division of the Michael J. Smith Memorial Tournament (with a crossover game to the Gold division). 
The team won all 4 of their games outscoring the opposition 10-1 to win another Gold Medal.  In their first full season together this team is coming together very well and beginning to reap some rewards for their effort and strong team play.

Our GU14 Lyon girls coached by Stephanne Demers take home gold in their second British Columbia tournament of the season.

NSDSC Lyon officially retired their team name at this tournament. While there were tears of joy there were tears of sorrow because one short year ago this squad was named Lyon. In that time, this new group of girls came together and accomplished some amazing things. They won their first Gold in Lethbridge, bronze (playing up in U16) here in Calgary and this outdoor won double gold in British Columbia.

The season started out a little weaker than usual as some of the core players were travelling abroad, on maternity leave, or injured. In our first four games we only managed to collect 2 points. The first win came at an interesting time, our coach Tino Fusco could not continue coaching for the season.  A replacement was found thanks to the help of the NSD technical directors, Troye Flannery and Shaun Lowther. John Carlucci’s first game with the team was a win, so he started off on a great foot!! It turned out that our team responded well to the time and commitment he gave. Once John was our coach our record to the end of the season then became 7-2-0. There were some great highlights to the season; Tessa Miller was the league top scorer with 17 goals in the 10 games she played. Lindsay Burrowes was selected to the Canadian University World Games team and was off to Belgrade, Serbia for the middle of our season. Kristie Emms, a true leader both on and off the field came back and played just months after delivering a beautiful baby boy.

The team’s roster is a very mixed group of girls from all over the city. There are Dino’s alumni, MRC alumni, current Dino’s and Cougar’s players making up a majority of the team.

Heading into provincial weekend, our hopes were high. Our first game against Victoria (who are going to nationals, Congrats!!), took a commanding lead and by the end of the first half they were up 3-0. Ashley Dixon a true great central defender got a concussion. Thankfully our team is full of fighters who refused to give up and when the final whistle blew we had pulled out a tie! Our second game against Angles turned out to be a nail biter, with Steph Hoogveld hitting a far post and into the net with only three minutes left we had won the game 2-1. Third game and second of the day was a little bit tougher to take. NW a very strong competitor came out in the end with a 4-1 win. Our bodies were tired and injuries were adding up. Our last game on Monday was against a rival Calgary team, Callies. We were up two goals quick in the first 20 mins thanks to Jasmine Maser. Unfortunately by half time it was 2-2. Later in the second half they managed to pull ahead by one goal and won the game 3-2.

BU12 Celtic 98's win GOLD at the Northwest Cup held in Spokane Washington, August 14-16, 2009.

The boys won all 4 games in the U12 Premier Division, playing an 11v11
format.  First game final 7-3, second game final 4-1, third game final 3-2
With a victory win for the semi-final game the boys won 2-1 against the
best team in Washington State.  The gold medal game was a 4-1 win.

Well done Boys!

The team showed tremendous character in holding off a second half charge by Coaldale who tied the game at 3-3 part way through the final frame. In the end, a spectacular late header by Kylan Johnson off a corner kick gave Supra a 4-3 lead they needed to secure gold. Jarret Nahm who pulled off some stellar saves throughout the Tournament was again in fantastic form.

The team coached by Shaun Lowther included the following staff and players:

Staff: (left to right) Gregory Rozan assistant coach, Shaun Lowther coach, Guillermo Charles assistant coach, Kevin Nahm team manger
Back Row: (left to right) Nate Gerhardt, Thomas Fisher, Kylan Johnson, Jarret Nahm, Andres Charles, Luke Fullerton, Matthew Chatani
Front Row: (left to right) Logan Fillo, Tysen Chatani, Damian Lee, Blessing Ndlovu, Eric Rozan, Ethan Joudrey

The NSD Orioles put on a tremendous display to capture silver medal at the GU14 Tier IV Provincials held in Spruce grove on the weekend of July 18th – 19th. The Orioles battled the Edmonton West Raiders to a closely contested 0-0 draw and then finally succumbed in the shootout by a score of 3-2.

In our first game at 10 am Saturday against Airdrie team the girls started out very flat.   As the game progressed the girls seemed to find their form and battled back to win 2 to 1.    The two week break since our final game combined with all the hype of playing at Provincials seemed to create a real lack of focus!

Our second game at 4 pm was blistering hot at about 28 degrees but I think the artificial turf made it feel at least 5 degrees hotter.     This was the game that won us the silver medal and our girls left everything on the pitch.  The effort was unbelievable. 

  We gave up a goal midway through the first half on a defensive error that sent their top striker in alone.   But our girls didn’t let that get them down and they responded with an absolutely beautiful goal late in the first half.    The second half was a back and forth battle until 15 minutes to go in the game.    One of our strikers got a step on their last defender and did a great job accelerating away while keeping the ball close enough to get away a great shot to the far bottom corner.   The St Albert Impact team made a strong push for the equalizer but our girls all did a fabulous job of helping out in the defensive zone.   

We also owe a huge thank you to Bianca Bolton of the U12 Cardinals.   She joined us for the weekend and played in goal the entire weekend and made several great stops in this game.    There was one in particular with about 5 minutes remaining that seemed to be headed for the back of the net until Bianca got one hand on it and somehow also controlled the rebound.

The final on Sunday was the complete opposite with regard to weather.   We all got a little wet and a lot cold.   There must have been a 40 km/hr cross wind for most of the game so there were a lot of throw-ins on one side of the pitch.    This Edmonton West Raiders team was quite small but very skilled and quick so it was a big change from the previous games.   We think this was a U12 Tier 1 team that didn’t want to play the 8 v 8 format so they registered in U14 for the outdoor season.    There were good solid scoring chances at both ends but neither team could manage a goal in regulation.    We lost the shootout 3 to 2.  It was very exciting right down to the last shooter.

It was a great weekend and all the parents and coaches are extremely proud of the effort by the girls. I am sure the NSD Soccer Club is as equally proud of the girls!

Best regards,

Kurt Bertram, Colin Loewen & Linda Ashwell
Coaches, NSDSC Orioles 

The Angels competed well on day 1 playing to a 1-1 draw with SW Sting and only losing 2-1 in the dying minutes vs. WRC United. After enjoying some social time at the beach, they came out refreshed and determined on day 2. Playing a tenacious match vs. Blizzard Dynamo resulting in their 1st (and most important) win of the tourney and finishing strong in the last game vs. Rutland with a 2nd win earning a much deserved Bronze medal only missing out on Silver by 2 points.

NSD Girls U14 Competitive Teams Review
by Stephanne Demers NSDSC GU14 Staff Coach

GU14 Competitive A/B wrapped up this week and I am excited to say we have had some real nice success.

The Matrix coached by Darryl Plouffe did an amazing job developing the girls. A lot of people don't know this but Matrix had a very shaky
indoor and if memory serves me correctly did not win a game. Darryl stepped up as coach just when the season started and took control over a team that had little confidence (parents and players). He shaped a squad and they won 5 games and tied 3......WOW!!! Darryl, on behalf of the club thank you for everything you have done this season.

The Phoenix coached by Terry Myles won CMSA Gold and will be headed for Inter-cities. This squad went an impressive 12-0-2. Terry, we wish your squad the best of luck this fall. GO PHEONIX GO!!!!

 
The Alliance coached by Kalvin Falconar had a competitive season. I had the privilege of working with Kalvin and his squad this outdoor and he runs fun and focused training. The depth of coaching within the NSD GU14 group is unbelievable. As a staff coach I often wonder who receives more when I have the opportunity to come and work with coaches. Kalvin, during your sessions it was I who benefited the most. You reminded me that FUN is what our kids need. Your team environment is exceptional.
Thank you for your continued commitment.

 
The Orioles coached by Kurt Bertram won CMSA Silver. I could write a book on the unbelievable job Kurt and Collin are doing. This is our 96 squad and they are going to provincials.......yes you heard me right provincials. Lyon my Premier Tier 2 squad had an opportunity to play Orioles in a tournament this season. We hit the pitch and I was excited at the level of play during the match. I don't just mean the level of play the players brought to the game but the deep - deep coaching talent that the Orioles have. I have had the opportunity to coach with Kurt before and like I said above, I am privileged to be working with coaches at this level. Kurt, I know the club will be cheering your girls on but I will be rooting for you and Collin. You guys have done something extraordinary with this group and I for one know what you continue to do for these girls ..........good luck mate.

After a long and winding path to the final of the fifty one team tournament, the guys saved their best for last as they defeated Del Mundo United and won the Cup with a 4-1 victory.  Goals were scored by Taylor Sayko, Aaron Gaudreau, Chris Sonnenberg, and Aaron Wallace.  A terrific game was had by all involved, and a big thumbs up goes to Cam for going in net, and to Chris for stepping up when Cam went down with an ankle injury late in the game.

The guys posted an 18-4 GF/GA ratio and went 6-0 over the course of the tournament.  Well done, this is a big accomplishment!

larger image in photo gallery

Back Row - From Left to Right:  Dylan Knight, Jonathan Pynn, Kurtis Pedersen, Bola Akanni, Andreas Straathof, Aaron Wallace, Matt Huntley, Cam Chan, Mark Shannon (Coach)
Front Row – Taylor Sayko, Will Torres, Chris Sonnenberg, Aaron Gaudreau, Matt Frehlich, Julian Da Silva, Tyler Sheasgreen
Missing – Tyler Poffenroth, Andrew Duffy, Jesse Gimbel, Jacob Steele, John Otitoju, Deng Kuot

Ellis Davies has been selected to represent the 2009 Western Canada Danone Cup soccer team. Over 7000 participants across Canada participated in the Danone Cup Challenge. Ellis selected to the 12 player squad began the process in September 2008 where he vied against 75 Southern Alberta players in a camp hosted by NSD in Calgary. Ellis who obviously performed extremely well was selected along with 200 other players from across the country to advance to regional camps. The Western regional camp was held in Edmonton on April 25th 2009. Again Ellis put in a stellar performance and turned the heads of Western Team coaches, Mark Rizzardo and Kurt Bosch to get selected.

Ellis who currently plays an age group up for the NSD Rangers ‘96 team that competes at the Boys U14 Premier Tier 1 level in the Calgary Minor Soccer Association is ecstatic that he has been given this tremendous opportunity to compete with and against the finest 1997 born players in all of Canada. Ellis stated, “I am pleased and excited that I have made the Western Team, because soccer is my passion and I love to play the game.”

NSD Soccer Club General Manager Shaun Lowther had this to say, “I feel so proud of Ellis! It is an absolutely tremendous accomplishment for Ellis to be selected to the Western Canadian team. He has competed against the best players in all of Western Canada and managed to become a part of what appears to be a very strong team. I am aware of the quality of players from BC as the son of David Norman, a former team-mate of mine with the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Canadian National Team has also managed to be selected from Coquitlam Metro-Ford in BC. I have seen them play and they are of the highest quality.”

Scott McGeoch, Coach of the NSD Rangers ‘96 team added, “Ellis is an intelligent and efficient player who reads the game well. He is an exceptional young talent who has developed quickly into one of the best players in the Province for his age, who is growing in confidence everyday. This selection is great for the team and the club but most importantly for Ellis. Congratulations on the selection, the whole team is very proud of you and we wish you the best of luck”.

Ellis will attend a 3 day training camp in Toronto leading up to a match on Saturday June 20th against the Eastern Canadian team as part of the “Soccer day in Canada” festivities being held at the BMO Field, Canada’s National Soccer Stadium. The winner of this contest will represent Canada at the Danone Cup World finals to be played in Sao Paulo, Brazil in October 2009.