The Sudbury Cyclones League2 men's team simply needed a little more time together.

On May 4th at home, the Cyclones surrendered three consecutive goals to Adrian Panaite in a span of just 12 minutes as visiting Alliance United from London spoiled the locals season debut with a 3-0 victory.

Though it may not have been the start Sudbury head coach Dylan Bruzzese was envisioning, the former member of the Laurentian Voyageurs (as recently as 2021) was quick to put things in perspective.

"We only had two weeks in having the whole team together," he said. "Getting the guys to know each other well and playing with confidence, linking up in the middle, we kind of lacked on that."

"Our style is to work the ball up the field but we kind of forced it up with a few long balls and that wasn't really working out for us," Bruzzese added.

A little bit of tinkering here and there and one week later on the road, the Cyclones were full measure for a 1-1 draw against the very same opponent, holding a lead into the 74th minute when Panaite struck again.

Laurentian recruit Sam Howard opened the scoring, converting on a penalty kick late in the opening half before the Toronto native and freshman at the Upstate University of South Carolina netted his fourth goal in a two week span.

"We actually switched our formation to help better counter how Alliance plays," confessed Bruzzese just a day or two before the rematch. "The idea is to absorb the pressure and then expose them on the opposite wing, overload the back post and counter on that side of the field."

Even before the Cyclones registered their first point of the season, Bruzzese was optimistic that a turnaround was imminent.

"I'm excited because this is only the beginning for us," he said last Friday. "I know there's a lot of talent on the team. It's just about bringing the confidence out in everyone and have everyone understand their roles."

"The intensity in practices has been there," continued Bruzzese. "The team is looking sharp."

The Cyclones will still play three more games away from home before hosting an encounter for the second time as the team travels to Whitby this Sunday (Whitby FC - 0-1-1), will visit Scarborough the following Saturday (The Borough FC - 0-1-2) and close off that stretch on June 1st against Vaughan Azzurri (3-0-0).

Their second home game of the year goes on Friday June 1st at 7:00 p.m. at the Cambrian College field with Whitby FC providing the opposition.

The 2025 Cyclones League2 roster includes Matthew Bodnar, Joshua Biswanger, Adrian Josephs, Theo Veira, Nathaniel Cadieux, Samad Aduwole, Sam Howard, Nick McGee, Liam Binks, Josiah Stone, Maliq Olanrewaju, Nathan Cranston, Xavi Pimbu, Max Aziz, Jacob Gill, Arsalan Malik, Jack Jordan, Roy Solarin, Elie Yoma, Yousof Hamid, Michael Karikari, Christian Lacopo and Carter Grenier.