Caledon United FC captures 15U Division gold medal at Heart of Caledon

By Jim Stewart

The 15U Caledon United Football Club rolled through the Heart of Caledon Tournament on the weekend.

The talented 15U squad, which won its indoor league championship and has moved outdoors with similar success, ran the table with four consecutive victories on Saturday and Sunday at the Caledon East Community Complex.

The impressive streak culminated in a nail-biting 1-0 win over Aurora SC in the championship final.  

The stellar play of Peyton Walsh between the pipes was on display all tournament. The unflappable goalkeeper recorded clean sheets in three of the four games she played. 

Diane Pellizzari provided all the offence Caledon United would need versus Aurora with a timely first half goal. It was Pellizzari's third goal of the tournament and first game-winning goal.

The 15U squad's impressive undefeated weekend commenced with an 8-0 whitewashing of South Simcoe SC on Saturday afternoon.

Maya Perez, Sasha Noel, and Maddie Wilson-Fairservice tallied two goals each in the blowout win.

Victoria Bosco and Pellizzari contributed a goal each to the offensive onslaught in the tourney opener. Walsh, sporting number 66 on her light blue jersey to commemorate England's only World Cup victory back in 1966, earned the shutout.

In Game Two, the red-clad home side endured a much closer contest.

Eliana Barichello fired the game winner in Caledon United's narrow 1-0 victory over KO Academy of Richmond Hill.  Walsh provided her team with a second consecutive clean sheet to kayo KO.

In Game Three, Caledon United edged Barrie 2-1 to finish pool play at 3-0.  Maddie Wilson-Fairservice scored the game-winning goal to send her team to the tournament championship game versus Aurora.

Pellizzari tallied Caledon United's first goal of the match.

Pellizari displayed her goal-scoring prowess in the championship game versus Aurora. 

Fifteen minutes into the match, the fleet-footed forward kicked the ball from outside the box. Her hard shot was mishandled by Aurora's pink-clad goalkeeper and the ball deflected into the lower right corner.  

It was the only goal Caledon United would need due to the stellar goalkeeping of Walsh.

With one minute to go in the first half, Walsh delivered an impressive combo of saves to keep Aurora off the scoreboard. The blue-jerseyed goalkeeper stopped an initial shot from eight feet and then corralled a successive shot in the crease to thwart the yellow and black-clad visitors.

A combination of saves by Walsh and some stellar defensive plays preserved the precarious lead in the second half.  With fifteen minutes left in the match, it was Walsh to the rescue again as she repelled another Aurora incursion with a pair of sure-handed saves and smothered the ball both times to prevent any late-game rebounds.

With eleven minutes left and moments after a water break, Maya Perez thwarted a dangerous scoring opportunity by Aurora by slide tackling and blocking a shot that was labeled for the lower right corner of the Caledon net. It was a game-saving play by the brilliant two-way player.

Caledon Soccer Club President and 15U Caledon United Football Club Head Coach Gabriel Borges said he was pleased to see his team run the table at his own tournament and acknowledged during our pre-game chat that “This is a big game for us.”

His team responded with a big game performance versus Aurora.

Borges, whose parents devoted much of their summers as Administrators for the Aurora Soccer Club, has lived a life similarly shaped by community service.

Coach Borges's squad was full value for the win on Sunday afternoon at the Caledon East Community Complex and showed their capacity to win in four different ways en route to a gold medal at the Heart of Caledon tourney.  

Heart would be the operative word to describe this stellar squad's play versus Aurora.  The sky is the limit for this talented football club.  Strong goaltending, aggressive play in the midfield, shutdown defences, and an abundance of athletic goal scorers are four vital ingredients for any successful soccer club.  Caledon United Football Club 15U checks all those boxes.