It would take an extra ten minutes or so, as players from both sides looked to rise to the occasion in the shootout – but given that it had been fifteen years since a local team last claimed the Caruso Club Soccer crown, Sudbury Panhellenic Zeus were not about to complain.
Converting on four straight penalty kick attempts, Zeus closed out Soo Croatia 2-1 in a game that could have been taken quite handily early on. Derek Lang managed to score the only Sudbury goal of regulation time, offsetting a marker from Richard Yendall, but countless were the missed opportunities that Zeus enjoyed throughout the fiercely fought battle.
Travis Perrin, Guillermo Estrada, Brian Kavaratzis and Steve Rachkowski all looked confident, burying their penalty kicks with relative ease, while Panhellenic netminder Thomas Guscott turned away a pair of attempts by the Soo, allowing the locals to forego their fifth and final shooter.
Panhellenic advanced to the finals, blanking Sudbury rival Croatia Adria 2-0 in the semi-finals after posting a 3-1 mark in round robin play. The Sault Ste Marie reps found themselves equally tested along the way, finishing pool play in second place at 2-1-1 and edging Mississauga A.C. Diavoli 2-1 in the remaining semi-final.
The last Sudbury-based team to walk away with bragging rights from the August long weekend event were the Canadian Builders back in 1996. The tournament re-appeared this year after a lack of interest thwarted the 2009 competition, with ten teams taking part in 2010.
Following is a complete listing of game scores and goal scorers from the three-day tournament:
Group "A"Mississauga A.C. Diavoli 2 (Marko Dalforvo, Matt Ross)
Sudbury Panhellenic Apollo 0
Sudbury Croatia Adria 2 (Dieri Drame, Derek Huffels)
Soo Italia 0
Soo Portuguese 2 (Brent Seaton, Tommy Katagis)
Soo Italia 1 (Andy Simek)
Mississauga A.C. Diavoli 1 (Neil D'Silva)
Sudbury Croatia Adria 0
Soo Portuguese 1 (Brent Seaton)
Sudbury Panhellenic Apollo 0
Mississauga A.C. Diavoli 1 (Larry Ruggiero)
Soo Italia 1 (Matt Leask)
Sudbury Croatia Adria 2 (Marco Armiento, Brendan Colton)
Soo Portuguese 1 (Rob Barsanti)
Soo Italia 5 (Isaak Wickstrom-4, Jon Lauricella)
Sudbury Panhellenic Apollo 3 (Ashton Gobbo-3)
Mississauga A.C. Diavoli 0
Soo Portuguese 0
Sudbury Croatia Adria 3 (Marco Armiento, Antonio Radford-Paz, Mafamiya Beleshi)
Sudbury Panhellenic Apollo 0
Group "B"
Oakville CNSC Livno 0
Soo Ital Canadians 0
Sudbury Panhellenic Zeus 3 (Jon Hussak-2, Neil Petrin)
Soo Croatia 1 (David Culina)
Sudbury Athletic 1 (Elnimari Hussein)
Soo Ital Canadians 0
Soo Croatia 2 (Chris Siegman, Matt Irving)
Oakville CNSC Livno 2 (Mike Rodrigues-2)
Sudbury Athletic 1 (Elnimari Hussein)
Sudbury Panhellenic Zeus 0
Soo Croatia 1 (Chris Siegman)
Soo Ital Canadians 0
Sudbury Panhellenic Zeus 3 (Derek Lang, Joel Cropp, Trevor Beange)
Oakville CNSC Livno 0
Soo Croatia 2 (Matt Irving, Richard Yendall)
Sudbury Athletic 0
Sudbury Panhellenic Zeus 4 (Brian Hennessy, Derek Lang, Brian Ashton, Trevor Beange)
Soo Ital Canadians 0
Sudbury Athletic 1 (Phil Ucci)
Oakville CNSC Livno 1 (Daniel Seddan)
Semi-Finals
Soo Croatia 2 (Mirsad Mairlahovic, Richard Yendall)
Mississauga A.C. Diavoli 1 (Larry Ruggiero)
Sudbury Panhellenic Zeus 2 (Brian Hennessy, Neil Petrin)
Sudbury Croatia Adria 0
