For a fourth straight year, the Sudbury Stallions have laid claim to the Anderson Cup - and while a regular season finale 3-2 win over the Sudburnia U18 Boys was nice, the mission was already accomplished, the Stallions having accumulated enough points to guarantee their top of the table regular season finish, once again.

"The core of this team has played together for a long time," noted midfielder Gabriel Rodrigues, the Laurentian Voyageurs' alumnus something of a newcomer to the fold, having joined this crew four years ago, post-Covid.

"That main core helps to keep this team successful. We have experience and cohesion between players that gives us great chemistry. And there's just a lot of good friendships on this team."

Still, with every passing year, the challenge of defending their mountain grows just little more difficult as the next wave of young talent enters the ranks of the SRCSL (Sudbury Regional Competitive Soccer League).

"The run and gun game is over for us," said Rodrigues. "We've got to play more as a cohesive unit: shorter passes, working together as a unit moving forward. We're playing younger teams and a team like that is right on us, all the time."

"We use our experience to help slow the game down to our pace and try and dominate the ball a bit more."

And while he isn't looked to be the triggerman when it comes to the Stallions' goal scoring needs, there is little doubt as to just how key his role is in patrolling the center of the pitch on a twice-a-week basis.

"I'm an attacking mid, mostly a box to box type of player - that's my game," explained Rodrigues. "My game doesn't switch up too much. I try and keep myself in the best physical shape that I can. That's very important to me."

And just one of the reasons that the Sudbury Stallions will enter the summer of 2026 looking to five-peat as Anderson Cup champions.

The 2025 team roster includes Grayden Henschel, Stephane Jacques, Andrew Ferreira, Ibrahim Sissoko, Matt Dumont, Zach Waller, Samim Massoom, Marcel Diro, Adam Waram, Gianfranco Carniel, Cole Giffin, Teobaldo Torres, Cameron Lapienis, Ashok Puri, Lucas Oliveira, Gordon Ridsdill, Robert Rabiej, Ayden Meilleur, Colin Pardoe, Mike Asunmaa, Chris Atkinson, Eddy Veilleux, Scott Nesbitt and Marcelo Vasquez.