Acknowledgement of volunteerism kicks off season finale – Friday (July 26), players from all eight teams of the Tim Hortons TimBITS U9 soccer league gathered for the official opening of the South Dundas United FC year end tournament to witness the presentation of league bursary awards acknowledging exceptional student volunteerism and commitment to SDU. South Dundas mayor Jason Broad took part in the presentation. “It’s important for the kids to have great volunteers like these to look up to,” he said. “I want to thank everyone who volunteers and puts time into our great community.” This year, the Jeffery Buchanan memorial awards for volunteerism went to three students who each volunteered more than 200 hours with SDU. They include: Ruby Jansen, David Da Silva and Elliott Blancher. The mayor, the award winners and volunteer coaches stood behind the players eager to get their games underway. See the July 31, 2024 print edition of The Leader for photos of all the league champions. (The Leader/Comfort photo)
IROQUOIS – A whirlwind of soccer culminated in a World Cup to remember for players in South Dundas United FC’s six summer soccer leagues.
In the span of 23 hours on July 26 and 27, nearly 430 players on 36 teams, played a total of 65 soccer matches in the organization’s 19th annual World Cup tournament.
“Congratulations to all the teams for their hard work and camaraderie in the sport this weekend,” said club president Phil Blancher. “A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who make this happen. The coaches, canteen staff, referees, the field crew, and all those who helped set up and clean up after the tournament.”
The soccer action culminated with six league championship finals Saturday afternoon.
In the Tim Hortons TimBITS U5 soccer final, South Africa took a 3-0 lead over England in the first half of the match. England rallied in the second half, scoring five goals. South Africa retained their lead, scoring three more goals to win their championship final 6-5. Noah Stitt led South Africa’s scoring with four goals, with Teddy Nicolaassen and Aden Caers scoring one goal each. England’s goal scorers were Skyla Kennedy (hat-trick) and Emmie Darling (two goals).
Undefeated in the regular season, and in the tournament round-robin play, Germany defeated Poland 6-1 in the Tim Hortons TimBITS U7 Soccer League final. Wallace Stitt scored all six goals for Germany, three each on either side of half time. Brayden Buter had the lone goal for Poland, scored in the second half.
Top-seeded South Korea played second-seeded Australia in the Tim Hortons TimBITS U9 Soccer League championship final.
The teams were goalless in the first half, leaving the scoring for the second half.
Australia’s two goals, one each from Lucas Gemperle and Gavin Empey resulted in the 2-1 championship win. Jaxson Holmes scored for South Korea.
Down 2-1 at half time in the BMO U11 Soccer League championship, Hungary scored four goals in the second half beat Argentina 5-3. Andrew Claxton landed a hat-trick for Hungary in the win while Joey Turner had two goals. Scoring for Argentina were Emmett Cooper-Kerkhof (two goals) and Will Casselman.
The BMO U14 Soccer League championship final was settled in dramatic fashion between Ukraine and Ireland. Scoreless at both half-time and full-time, the match was forced into extra-time.
Early in to the second half, Ukraine forward Lennon Corneau’s goal from the 18 yard box was chalked off by the referee for being offside.
Barely one minute remained in the match and a looming penalty shoot out on the horizon. Ukraine forward Darcy Cinnamon poked the ball through goal on the far post to score the Championship winning goal. Ukraine won 1-0
The last championship match of the day was the BMO U18 Soccer League final. Mexico was undefeated in round-robin play, while Belgium squeaked into the final with a 1-1-1 record.
Parker Dake scored in the first half to put Mexico ahead 1-0 by half-time. Early in the second half, Chase Alger tied the game for Belgium. Will Gibbons scored the game and championship winner for Mexico in the final minutes of the match. Mexico defeated Belgium 2-1 for the championship.
With the summer season now over, SDUFC volunteers have already turned their attention to the upcoming fall season – which begins September 7.