The 2008 Soo City United Girls soccer team had a solid debut to their tournament season taking home a silver medal at the Adidas Warrior Memorial Day Classic in Dayton, Ohio over the May 26-28, 2023.

Soo City started the tourney with two decisive victories over Ohio teams Urbana and Greater Toledo FC. This set up a pivotal game versus the undefeated host Warrior team from Dayton.

“We treated that match as our semi-final game. Our girls came out with big energy and we got on the attack early”, said Head Coach Michael Magli. Soo City United took a 3-1 lead into half-time and did not take their foot off the gas. “Winning teams close out games. The Warriors had a perfect record too and they wanted to earn a finals berth to play in front of their home crowd. As the only Canadian entry in the 300-team tournament, we had our own plans!” Soo City United closed out that game
with a 6-2 victory earning a finals berth against the winner of the second pool, GTFC Impact West from Toledo.

After a scoreless match, the Impact finally beat the Soo City goalkeeper in the 69th minute with a heavy shot from just outside the 18-yard box. That proved to be the winner in what was a very entertaining 1-0 championship game. “It was a hard-fought
defensive battle. We are so proud of our girls who played as a tight unit the entire weekend. Full credit to Greater Toledo FC for limiting our scoring chances and a solid performance”, said Coach Magli.

Soo City’s offense powered by their sponsors Northside Volkswagen and Northern Sports Excellence was in over-drive accounting for 27 goals on the trip. Multi-goal scorers included Celina Pinelli, Marissa Leveque, Sienna Magli and Lila Jarrett.

Players earning their first goal of the season included: Danielle Naslovar, Kaitlyn Johnson, Kiannah Deluca and Natalia Kaminski. Thea Iachetta posted a shutout on the weekend.

Next event for the Sault Ontario squad will be the Tiamo Cup, taking place July 15-16 in St.Catharines, Ontario.

Source: 2008 Soo City United Girls