U18 Strikers Boys dominate HEADS United, Cambridge United and GPF Eagles

Stratford goalkeeper Owen Blackburn makes the goal kick against the GPF Eagles at Cowan Field on June 15.

Coming off winning the Graham Bunting Classic, the Stratford U18 Strikers looked to continue their surge as they returned to the Southwestern District Soccer League regular season campaign this week.

On June 8 at Barbour Field in Hillsburgh, the Strikers faced the Hillsburgh Erin and District (HEADS) United. A brace from William Pepper and goals from Piers Murray, Pierce Macdonald and Rogan Catalan gave the Strikers a convincing 5-1 win.

Two days later, on June 10, Strikers travelled to Cambridge for their matchup with Cambridge United. Catalan and Murray’s brace led Stratford to a convincing 8-1 win over Cambridge. Pepper, Nicholas Brintnell, Ype Zeilstra and MacDonald also scored in the rout.

With the two wins, the Strikers have a record of 3-1-1, good for fourth place heading into the June 15 matchup with the last-place Global Premier Futbol (GPF) Eagles at Stratford’s Cowan Field at Festival Hydro Park.

Caden Ollson scored a hat trick for the Strikers, while MacDonald provided a brace in a 10-0 blowout win. Murray, Catalan, Jelle Zeilstra, Jack Haines, and Greyson Roth run out the scoring downpour while goalkeeper Owen Blackburn got the clean sheet for Stratford.

In the three wins, the Strikers outscored their opponents 23-2 and improved their record to 4-1-1, earning 14 of the possible 18 points to start the regular season.

Strikers head coach Steve Ollson liked what he saw from the team against the Eagles.

“I thought all the boys played really well there. We stuck together as a team and played our game plan, which allowed us to really take it to the other team for the whole game,” Ollson said.

With the season well underway, Ollson says the team's focus is to win the SWDSL League Cup and have a successful season overall.

“We always want to make sure that we do as well as we can in all the tournaments we play in the League Cup. So far this year, we lost in the finals of our first tournament (Hamilton Sparta Cup) at the beginning of the year, and won the second tournament, the Graham Bunting,” Ollson said.

“We got our first League Cup game on Friday, so the goal is to win that and go as far as we can, hopefully win the (Nothers Youth) League Cup. Then we'll just get one more tournament at the end of the year to make sure that we finish off the year strong, not only in the league but also in that final tournament.”

The Strikers' upcoming schedule includes a trip to Kitchener for the North Youth Cup opening round against Kitchener TFC on June 19. Their next regular-season game is scheduled for June 22 against Blue Mountains United at Cowan Field in Festival Hydro Park.