The weather might not be ideal but an early start to the SDSSAA soccer season is pretty much always a good thing in the eyes of coaches and players alike who try and make the best of a very abbreviated runway for preparation, local competition and provincials.

Some teams kicked off play on April 22nd this year, with Second Division action set to launch this week. Following are some quick updates from a few of the divisions that have begun play:

Just one week in and the Senior Premier Boys loop has already been home to some very interesting results.

On opening day, the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères blanked the Lo-Ellen Park Knights 1-0 as the team making the jump this year from Second Division received a goal from Kouame Nango and stellar netminding from Tyler Granthien to kick off their season on a winning note.

"It's thanks to coach Gabriel Rodrigues," said ESMC veteran Rocko Purpura. "He's really improved our conditioning and touches on the ball. Every practice, we would do a lot of running with the ball and without the ball and a lot of drills."

That said, the buy-in from the Panthères players has been critical in helping the team progress over the course of the past two years. "We're willing to try new things - and we can adapt very quickly," suggested Purpura.

In some cases, that includes having a willingness to tackle a new position - as was the case with Purpura moving from fullback to midfielder.

"Honestly, I love it," he said. "I'm playing the best I ever have. As a fullback, I wasn't talking as much. As midfielder, I talk more to my teammates, letting them know if there is someone behind them or if they have time to dribble."

Hitting the win column later in the week were the Lasalle Lancers, Lockerby Vikings, St Charles College Cardinals and St Benedict Bears.

Sylas Asare-Corbiere scored twice as Lasalle trounced the Bishop Carter Gatos 7-1, with Zidain Allen, Derrick Idehen, Chad Tullio, Nour Alzahran and Alameen Salami all chipping in with one goal apiece for the Lancers.

Strikes from Callum Baron and Farouq Alzawi were enough to lift Lockerby past the Confederation Chargers 2-1 while Roy Solarin handled all of the scoring as the Cards edged the Horizon Aigles by a 2-1 count.

St Benedict got the better of the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes (3-0), with Donald Munyua finding the back of the net twice and Paolo Grossi joining him on the scoresheet.