The best U17 girls team in Ontario is now the best U17 girls team in the country as the Ottawa TFC Academy team emerged from the recent Toyota National Championships in Charlottetown with the gold medal and the title.
It is the first ever that a team from the Ottawa region has won gold at the national tournament – boys or goals.
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The Ottawa TFC team is made up of Chanelle Chaput, Riley Bonadie, Lauren Curran, Flavie Dubé, Emily Smith, Paige Robert, Kylen Grant, Kylie Laframboise, Jessica Boyle, Melina Cane, Véronique Bolduc, Joelle Chackal, Amelia Thompson, Devon Vermaire, Rachel Vermaire and Katelyn Brzozowski. The head coach is Pavel Cancura. The assistants are Duane Bonadie and Patrick Doyle and the team manager is Frances Smith. PHOTO SUPPLIED |
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The Ottawa TFC team is made up entirely of Cumberland United Football Club players put together before the season
began from last year's Cumberland Cobras U14, U15 and U16 teams.
TFC kicked the tournament off with a 3-0 win over the host PEI FC on Oct. 19.
Riley Bonadie scored an excellent goal in the 31st minute, her firm shot from just inside the area finding the top corner.
A Katelyn Brzozowski penalty in the 46th minute made the points safe, while Amelia Thompson's first of the tournament in added time proved to be the icing on the cake.
TFC then reeled off a pair of wins over Halifax County United (4-0) and Moncton
Codiac SC (6-0), before St. John's SC held them to a 1-1 tie.
Bonadie and Jessica Boyle scored in the opening half against Halifax United and
Kylie Laframboise added a pair of goals in
the second stanza.
In the match against Moncton, Flavie Dubé scored a hat trick while Emily Smith, Chanelle Chaput and Devon Vermaire added
a goal each.
With all of their early success TFC still needed a win or a tie against St. John's to finish at the top of their group and earn a berth in the gold medal game.
In the end a 1-1 tie was good enough to secure the top of the fixture and a date against Quebec champions Lakeshore SC in Monday's final.
With the gold medal and the National
Championship on the line, Ottawa TFC girls came flying out of the gate and very nearly scored in the third minute of the game when Chaput forced the Lakeshore keeper to make a spectacular save from in close.
Much of the play during the early stages of the first half was in the Quebec team's end of the pitch as Ottawa TFC dominated the first 20 minutes, applying constant
pressure to Lakeshore's backline.
Lakeshore's first shot at goal didn't come until the 15th minute and the first shot on goal didn't occur until the 17th minute.
It took Ottawa TFC 57 minutes to finally get on the scoreboard and break the 0-0 deadlock. The goal was set up by a long lead pass from Laframboise that took a high bounce in the penalty area allowing Vermaire to head it over the Lakeshore keeper and into the back of the net.
TFC extended their lead to 2-0 in the 78th minute on a series that began with a blind clearance by Boyle that fell to the feet of a hard-charging Bonadie who sprinted past the defender and slid a crossing pass to Chaput who easily redirected it into the Lakeshore net.
The Quebec side managed to cut the deficit in half two minutes into extra time, but Ottawa TFC was able to control the play for the remaining 60 seconds and ran out the clock to claim the gold medals and the
title of National Champions.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)