The crew will be looking to build on a very solid third-place finish 12 months ago, returning a strong core from the 2014 team, and making a very small adjustment in the head coaching role.
Ed Veilleux returns to Sudbury from the East Coast, inheriting the reins of the squad from his brother Andy Veilleux, who has moved on to the Kingston area. Though the season starts only on Saturday, with a home encounter against the Bradford & District Wolves, Veilleux is having trouble hiding his enthusiasm regarding the group of talent under his watch.
"If you look back at the development of the core of this team, they've had strong coaching all of their lives, so it's no surprise that they have a number of very technically sound players," said Veilleux.
"I think that we can do some damage this year."
Truthfully, there is not a single area of the pitch where the new coach is overly concerned. It all starts with a netminding tandem of Evan Phillips and Connor Vande Weghe.
Phillips was outstanding in his rookie season with Cambrian last fall, displaying the talent that he had developed through high-end club competition in his youth. A senior at St. Benedict, Vande Weghe is at the top of the class within the local high school league, hoping to crack the lineup of the Laurentian Voyageurs in the fall.
The back-end will be anchored with Zach Gallo (Laurentian) and Aaron Dent (Cambrian), with the Golden Shield co-captain tackling more of a central defensive midfielder role.
John Hick and Akshay Varghese add a physical element through the middle of the field, with both more than willing to challenge opponents aggressively. Up front, Veilleux will look to a top pairing of Shawn Wilcox and Jesse Johnson, with Josh Alvarenga providing a little different look in support of the two speedsters.
"It's a pretty balanced team," said Veilleux. "I've seen a lot of the boys in practice, going through the drills, but I haven't seen a lot of game time from them. Team chemistry, team cohesion will set the benchmark for just how good we can be."
With much of this core graduating from the post-secondary ranks in the next two to three years, the time is now to make their mark. "This is the last hurrah for a lot of these guys, so the motivation is there," said Veilleux.
"A lot of them are either already playing or looking to play post-secondary. I think there is a synergy there between varsity and playing around the province. A lot of these kids played last year. We want to finish no worse than third. I think if we could finish first or second, we would be really happy."
The matchup with Bradford on Saturday at 7 p.m. on the turf at James Jerome will close off a full day of soccer action, with no less than four of the Impact teams opening their 2015 season.
The roster for the U21 Impact includes Shawn Wilcox, Jesse Johnson, Josh Alvarenga, Aaron Dent, John Hick, Grayden Henschel, Akshay Varghese, Ahmed Bilgasem, Anthony Taus, Bruno Veloso, Zachary Gallo, Nicholas Walker, Cameron Lapienis, Conor Blayney, Troy Gauthier, Dexter St. Jean, Evan Phillips and Connor Vande Weghe.
U17 Girls
No Impact team has seen more early season game action that the U17 girls, having competed in showcase events both in Ottawa and Peterborough earlier this month. This weekend, the crew opens Central Girls Soccer League (CGSL) regular-season play, welcoming the Pickering Power and Barrie SC to town.
Though wins were tougher to come by at Trent, the players were excited with the results given the timing.
"I think we did really well," said veteran defender Emma McDougall. "We got to the finals at the first tournament. We had never even practised on a full field before we went, and this is a new team, with a fair number of underagers."
Her longtime attacking teammate, Sarah Cholewinsky, is in full agreement.
"I thought the tournaments went really well, both of them, actually, even though we didn't win a game at Trent," said Cholewinsky.
With speedy Karly Hellstrom having committed to a summer of soccer in southern Ontario this year, Cholewinsky and others will be given even more opportunity to create the offence needed for the team to remain competitive in a tough eight-team league.
"I think that our defensive game is pretty strong, so we need to work on our attacking game," said Cholewinsky. "It's a little more pressure, definitely, since we don't have that one extra fast player up top that you can pass to."
Throw in a handful of key newcomers that will be seeing plenty of field time, and it's clear that coaches Brian Coufal and Gervase Robinson have their work cut out for them.
"We're working a lot on positioning," said McDougall. "Players are trying to get used to the players that have been here for a while, how they play, how they like to receive the ball."
The Impact U17 girls will take to the field Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m., subsequently enjoying two weeks off before hitting the road to face Glen Shields and Toronto.
GAME ON:
At Home: Impact U14-G vs King City Royals - Sat., May 23rd - 1:00 p.m. at James Jerome (turf); vs Vaughan Azzurri - Sun., May 24th - 1:00 p.m. at James Jerome (turf)
At Home: Impact U17-G vs Pickering Power - Sat., May 23rd - 3:00 p.m. at James Jerome (turf); vs Barrie SC - Sun., May 24th - 3:00 p.m. at James Jerome (turf)
At Home: Impact U21-M vs Bradford & District Wolves - Sat., May 23rd - 7:00 p.m. at James Jerome (turf)
At Home: Impact U21-W @ FC Durham Academy White - Sat., May 23rd - 5:00 p.m. - Sun., May 24th - 11:00 a.m. - both at James Jerome (turf)
