The Caledon Cyclones u15 Girls’ squad are ready for Nationals

Written By ROBERT BELARDI

The Caledon Cyclones u15 Girls' soccer team is ready to make a statement in challenging for a national title this year. 

The team is ranked number one in Canada according to gotsoccer.com and is currently ranked 66th international in North America. 

For the past two seasons, the girls have won the Ontario Cup and the Ontario Indoor Cup twice. The trophy cabinet is missing one essential prize that would separate this young club from the rest. It will be a challenge, to bring home the national title, considering the number of superlative clubs in the United States. 

The team's rank is justified by the final position in a tournament and the quality of the teams involved. That's why, Manager Cosimo Mazzaferro, is careful selecting Canadian tournaments. 

The United States competitions, such as the EDP Cup Spring in New Jersey, pays out a higher value. Some don't normally invite Canadian clubs; with the exception of this one. 

 In the month of March, the Cyclones are hosting tryouts every Tuesday and hope to finalize the roster in April. The team is currently signed up to compete in the EDC USYS Showcase from April 18th-19th. Mazzaferro says that the team will be finalized after that tournament, before the club attends the Umbro Showcase in Mississauga from May 15th to the 18th, to give the girls the opportunity to compete in front of scouts that will be searching for the next big prospect in division one NCAA schools. 

“We're looking to add players that have the same goals in mind of what we have,” said Mazzaferro. 

He added, “We want players that set their sights extremely high, in terms of their level of soccer and their commitment to soccer.” 

Mazzaferro has been with the team since the girls were nine. For the past two seasons, he has left the reigns of the club to another coach named Peter. 

Under Peter's tutelage, the Cyclones have been playing a year-up domestically. Mazzaferro argued to the league, the competition was not high enough. The girls were smoking teams right off of the pitch. 

“The first two games of the season, they won like, 12 nothing and 10 nothing. They said you know what, we can't let you do this to every team. We said, we are going to do this to every team until you change our league,” Mazzaferro exclaimed. 

He didn't want the girls to run riot in the league. He wanted to challenge the club. 

Once the girls moved up, in their first year the team went 13-3-0 and walked away with the championship trophy.  

The second year, the girls tied for first and lost in penalty kicks. Mazzaferro moved the girls, last year, into tournaments one year-up as well. 

Older teams know who this group is and they know what they're capable of. 

According to Mazzaferro that's the biggest challenge. The first round of the Ontario Cup will be hosted in Caledon East this year. Other teams have the drive to step out on to the field and give the Cyclones a run for their money. 

The other challenge is taking every team seriously. Last year the girls went into the Ontario Cup, winning their first two group games 6-0 and 7-0 nothing. The last time the Cyclones played, won their first two matches by one goal.  

The other team was beating the Cyclones with five minutes left. It ended up in a 1-1 tie. The mentality was to smoke them and it was far from that. If the girls lost, they were eliminated. 

“Those sorts of things, where a team when we should have rolled over them, sometimes we don't take them as seriously as we should,” explained Mazzaferro. 

Not all of the girls live in Caledon. There is a group of them that are local players. 

Imagine the reaction if this team wins nationals. Imagine the opportunity and the notoriety received for such a small-town. 

“If they're national champions, I think we have every right to take them to Europe and say ‘hey, this is what we've done in Canada now we want to showcase them overseas and see if anyone is interested.'” 

It's all about breaking the boundary. That's what this program wants to do. 

If your daughter is interested in playing a high level of soccer and excited about the opportunity, please contact Cosimo Mazzaferro at (647)-530-2937.