The Sudbury Cyclones are not the only local soccer team battling for top spot in their bracket as we near the end of August.

In fact, at least a couple of the GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club) Impact contingent are still very much in that mix with just a few weeks to play.

The U15 Impact boys enjoyed a rare one-sided affair last Saturday on the road, dispatching of Thornhill by a final count of 7-0 as Sam Lazare and Nathan Estriplet paced the attack with two goals apiece. Domadius Aziz got the ball rolling with a “peach of a placement in the top corner” (in the words of head coach Nigel Croome) while Ezio Cusinato and Diego Larios capped off the scoring.

Keeper Sebastian Gonzalez earned the shutout but knew full well that he and his teammates would have their hands full the next day against a much tougher Richmond Hill side. Netting his seventh goal on the past six games, Estriplet broke the ice on a scoreless tie 15 minutes from full time while the back-line brigade teamed up with Gonzalez for a near perfect weekend.

“Every time they send a through ball, our defenders will kick it out or send it quickly to our forwards so that we can start scoring goals,” explained Estriplet, a 15 year-old who was born in the United States to parents of Haitian descent, moving to Canada a decade ago and calling Sudbury home for the past seven years.

That was about the same time the talented striker who previously lined up either on the wings or in the midfield first picked up soccer. “I didn’t know anything about soccer when we moved here,” said the grade 10 student at École secondaire catholique du Sacré-Coeur. “Now, it’s my excitement.”

“It brought me joy; this sport brought me joy, basically.”

With their two-game sweep, the Impact improved to 5-0-1 but still have eight games remaining as the eight team loop completes a full home and home set in the final phase of i-Model play this summer. The team is taking advantage of a break in the schedule before hosting Thornhill and King United on August 23rd and 24th.

Surrendering just two goals against in their past five outings, the Impact will look to continue their defensive excellence through the end of the season that sees their final games slated for late September.

“Each position has a responsibility,” stressed Estriplet. “As winger, you have to drop back sometimes; midfielder, you go box to box. At striker, my defensive responsibility is getting to the middle to press the ball. But you are expected to finish (when you get the ball) with just two or three touches.”

The tail-end of their summer will not be easy as the team will be without a pair of top-end talents. Both <>Alexandre Ben-Anteur and Samuel Lazare leave next week for Montréal, having committed to the Valencia CF (Club de Futbol) Canada Academy program for the upcoming school year.

Meanwhile, the Impact U13 boys are also sitting atop the standings in the YRSL (York Regional Soccer League) iModel C2 Division, though they are sharing top spot, at the moment, with KO Football Academy in Toronto. Like the older boys, coach John Georgievski and company also have the weekend off, back at it on August 23rd and 24th as they travel south to face Aurora and Union Bradford FC.

With a number of his players heading to post-secondary training camps next week, coach Doug Rosener and the Impact U18 Girls would see their season come to a close a little earlier, wrapping up play in a very competitive grouping of the Toronto Soccer League last weekend.

With Vaughan showing the way with an impressive record of 12-1-2, the Sudbury reps were locked in a battle for second place with CTSA (Canadian Tamils Soccer Association), the teams boasting identical records of 7-3-3 heading into their head to head matchup. Misaki Diavolitsis, Amy Flores and Ariana Tonkovic all found the back of the net, with Bryn Hobson setting up a pair of those strikes as the Impact bounced CTSA by a final count of 3-1.

Facing Vaughan in their season finale but with their placement already secured, the northern U18 entry took advantage of the opportunity to provide their graduating seniors one last hurrah in their youth soccer careers. Still, a 2-1 loss against a team that lay claim to an Ontario Cup banner is nothing to sneeze at – and there was the added highlight of a goalkeeper goal.

Keeper Izzy Roy produced a huge punt that fooled the opposing netminder, who let the ball bounce only to find herself chasing the sphere back across her own goal line as the U18 Impact were able to make one final and very special lasting memory for their team.

The Impact U14 boys are at home on Saturday, the teens welcoming North York EFC Boca Juniors to the James Jerome Sports Complex pitch for a 3:00 p.m. match.

Having survived the initial phase of iModel play in the top off of the table, the Impact U14 girls find themselves as the only Sudbury entry competing in the iModel Central Region league for the balance of the summer. The locals are taking their record of 2-3-0 on the road, this weekend, going toe to toe with East York and Power FC as the team will play six of their final nine games out of town.

The girls are in Sudbury on September 6th (East York) and 7th (Power FC), as well as on September 28th (Darlington Energy).