NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA LIGHTNING
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The Jason’s No Frills U16 Orillia Lightning won the Huronia and District Soccer League President’s Cup with a convincing 4-0 win over Collingwood United this past weekend.
The Lightning played their best game of the season committing a full 90 minutes to timely tackling while maintaining a disciplined shape.
Brady Marion opened the scoring by directing a perfectly placed pass from William Shaw to beat the United’s outstretched keeper. Shaw had to beat three Collingwood defenders in order to deliver the pass to a streaking Marion.
Shaw was dominant throughout the contest, frustrating the right side of the Collingwood defence with his aggressive and unrelenting attack throughout the game. Marion scored his second of the game from a corner kick earned by Shaw that confused the Collingwood keeper as it bent into the top of the net to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead at half-time.
Collingwood attacked the right side of the Lightning defence for most of the game. Mason Bard, Aidan Granulo and Gabriel Mennen battled hard giving up little space for Collingwood to generate many quality scoring chances from the right while Carson Copegog, Julian White and Aidan Lewis quickly shut down any idea of an attack to the left side of the Lightning defence.
Ryder Huffman was in command in net directing traffic on free kicks and snagging corner kicks to limit any second chance opportunities for Collingwood.
Marion completed the hat trick midway through the second half after quickly corralling in a well placed corner kick from Shaw.
The Lightning midfield of Jacob Hazel, Evan King, Liam Rose, Braden Baikie, Desmond Andrews and Stefanas Nosakhare prevented Collingwood from generating much of an attack through the middle and played strong defensively to prevent any sustained pressure.
George Locker played his best game of the season using his speed to make a number of strong plays down the right side of the field in both the offensive and defensive zones.
Perjan Soltani completed the scoring with one of the nicest goals of the season.
While shielding a couple of Collingwood defenders, Soltani was able to settle the ball down enough to deliver a beautifully curved shot from 25 metres out into the far top corner over the backpedalling keeper.
A full team commitment to maintaining structure, communicating well and supporting each other earned a well-deserved cup trophy for Jason’s No Frills Orillia U16 Lightning.
The Jason’s No Frills U16 Orillia Lightning punched their ticket to the cup final with a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the semifinals versus undefeated Muskoka United FC in late July.
Orillia found themselves down 3-1 versus Muskoka with just 25 minutes left to play. Soltani started the comeback with a blistering strike from just outside the penalty area on a beautiful cut-back pass from Hazel.
Hazel added the equalizer shortly after to stun the visitors from Muskoka. Marion’s ball control skills left the United defence little choice but to foul him in the penalty area with three minutes left in the game.
Marion made no mistake converting the penalty to complete one of the most exciting comebacks in recent memory for the Lightning.
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