The West Ottawa Girls U11 Premier A soccer team tackled, passed, kicked and scored their way to an impressive finish, capturing the gold medal in the Girls U12 division of the Mississippi Invitational Soccer Tournament, played in Carleton Place on the weekend of July 17-18th.  The feat was made even more impressive by the fact that they played against older girls, played on a full field for the first time ever and allowed no goals during regulation time for the entire tournament.

The girls entered their first game with more than a few butterflies in their stomachs on Saturday morning against an extremely tough West Ottawa U12 team.  This was understandable as they only had one practice session on a full field prior to the tournament.  The butterflies quickly disappeared once the game began, as they successfully translated their mini-field skills to the larger surface.  The game ended scoreless and they lost in the ensuing shoot out.  The girls brought a new found confidence to their next games, defeating both Lanark United and Cumberland by scores of 3-0 each.

They continued their winning ways on Sunday, defeating the Ottawa Royals 2-0 in the semi-final.  In the championship game, they beat Smith Falls 3-0 to bring home the gold.  Coach Peter Derham commented, “The girls played full field for the first time and played excellent procession games using the full width of the field.  They were repeatedly praised by referees at the tournament in how they played the game.  The girls have been trained in passing patterns for several years and this resulted in some excellent soccer against older opposition.”

Front Row (L-R): Amanda Zhu-Pawlowsky, Clarissa Larisey, Shalene Denovan, Barbora Fabusova

Middle Row (L-R): Sabrina Hammada, Alyssa Younghusband, Caitlyn Doiron, Chloe Doherty, Katherine Chadwick, Scarlett Diamantopoulos, Paige McNeil, Molly Martel, Danielle Hood, Hayley Woodside, Ghalia Hammada, Emma Kovacs, Jordan Taylor

The Warriors set the tone with the first game by scoring their first goal of the tournament within 10 seconds of play.  Throughout the weekend they were able to shut down their opponents by moving the ball quickly into space, excellent passing, and hustling for every ball resulting in a tie for the lowest goals against total.  Goalies Dana Selwyn and Caileigh Riddell got 3 shutouts out of 5 games.

In the championship game, the Warriors faced the Cumberland premier team which had beaten them previously in pool play.  Danielle Theoret from the Warriors team opened the scoring during an intense first half.  In the second half, both teams were battling to get the critical next goal.   The Warriors prevailed with Molly Martel getting the insurance goal.  To seal the victory Sasha Thomson scored the third and final goal of the game with the Warriors winning 3-0.  Coach Alexandre is very proud to coach such an exceptional group of girls. “Every one of them played a part in our success in this tournament.”

The West Ottawa Warriors are coached by Alexandre St-Jean and John MacAngus.  Marc Pawlowsky is the team manager.

The tryout registration for the West Ottawa Soccer teams is open and the tryouts start very soon.  We appreciate that even though we have published our FAQ on our website (http://www.westottawasoccer.ca/about-us/wos-faq), there still may be a number of questions that our members may wish to ask.  Accordingly, we have organized the following information sessions for parents of U10, U11 and U12 players:

Monday, February 8th, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the West Carleton Amateur Sports Club located at 3832 Carp Road, Carp

Wednesday, February 10th, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Stittsville Arena located at Warner-Colpitts Ln., Stittsville

All members from Almonte, Goulbourn, Kanata and West Carleton soccer clubs are welcome to attend.  Representatives from each club will be there to answer any technical and logistical questions that you may have.

We look forward to seeing you.

Almonte Soccer Club
Goulbourn Soccer Club
Kanata Soccer Club
West Carleton Soccer Club

Starting in 2010, for players born in 1998, 1999 and 2000, players will be selected to teams using the entire pool of players available to the four clubs. If successful this effort will pave the way for all age groups in competitive soccer to eventually be consolidated. The final result will be one of the largest and most developmentally advanced soccer programs in Ontario.

This means that all levels of competitive play (regional, premier and division 1) will soon be available to every player. Historically, on their own, the four clubs were seldom if ever able to field teams at all levels, forcing some players to go to other clubs to find the right level of competition. At times it also meant players had to drop out of competitive soccer if their club was not able to offer the appropriate level and other clubs had already completed their tryouts. This should now be alleviated and if registration permits the total number of teams entered from the west end of Ottawa may actually increase.

This will also mean a change for the players at these age groups; tryouts will no longer be club specific, club officials have been working tirelessly to create a tryout process that is fair and efficient. The process will be different than what most of the players are used to, but the objective is the same; make sure as many players as possible get to play competitive soccer and that they compete at an appropriate level.

It should be noted that these changes do not have any impact on recreational/house league or adult soccer.

So please return to this website and get all the details as we make them available. To make things easy for players and their families there will be one centralized registration process for competitive players in these age groups, you will soon be able to find the link both on the new website and on your home club's website as well. If you have any questions, check out the FAQ on the website or feel free to call or email the president or technical director of any of the four clubs.

See you on the soccer pitch.

Almonte Soccer Club
Goulbourn Soccer Club
Kanata Soccer Club
West Carleton Soccer Club