The GSSC (Greater Sudbury Soccer Club) Impact U14 girls closed out a near-perfect season within the Huronia District Soccer League last week, emerging triumphant for the 12th consecutive time with a 3-0 win in North Bay Wednesday night. Kiara Levac scored twice, once on a beautiful cross from Brooke Dugas, and Sydney Coe added the remaining goal for the winners.
The victory came just days after the Sudbury crew posted back to back shutouts, last weekend. Keeper Cadyn Goulais recorded the clean slate in a 3-0 win over the Barrie Spirit, with Coe, Dugas and Kiana Levac supplying the offence, and was equally as flawless the next day against the Innisfil Stampeders.
A two-goal performance from Kiara Levac, combined with one marker apiece from both Coe and Dugas was easily enough in a 4-0 win. While the team also garnered bragging rights in the HDSL Cup, there was an “outside of the league confines” highlight for sisters Kiara and Kiana Levac this summer.
Separated by one year in age (Kiara is playing up a division), the siblings were the only two girls from northern Ontario who earned an invite to the provincial U14 team tryouts in Vaughan at the end of July.
For Kiana, the older of the two, a defender who begins her secondary schooling at Ecole secondaire l’Horizon this fall, the experience was her second at the event, a fact which certainly helped on her return trip south. “Last year, I was really nervous, so I was sort of panicking when I got the ball,” she said.
“This year, I just thought I would go out and play my best. I pretended like I was playing for my own team.”
The 14-year-old, who is looking forward to also participating in sports such as volleyball, badminton and flag football, during her time as an "Aigle", will find herself on the scoresheet, from time to time, despite her role on the back-end, simply based on her superior skill in booting the ball.
"I take free kicks and corner kicks because I have a really good shot," said Kiana. "I like to take the shot from five to ten yards outside of the box, and with an angle from the outside. I just think it's a better look. I like to shoot for the top corner, so the angle just seems to help me."
When it comes to scoring advice, little sister is not a bad place to start. A natural left-footed midfielder who likes to attack from the outside wing, Kiara offers a wonderful versatility at both ends of the pitch. “You’re like a striker, kind of, but not really, because you’re on the wing,” she said. “You help your defence.”
“If they have the ball, you come back and show. On offence, you try and pass the ball to the striker, for them to shoot. It’s easier for me to cross the ball to the striker because I’m a lefty.”
Though the pre-tryout warnings from her sibling might have provided a little cause for concern, Kiara suggested that in the end, the experience was a truly positive one. "The first game was really stressful, but in the second one, everyone was feeling better," she said.
"It was easier."
"Kiana and Kiara are two of the most dedicated and promising young female talents in Sudbury soccer," noted GSSC club head coach Giuseppe Politi. "They are both coachable, yet still have an ‘edge’ or ‘grit’ in their repertoire."
"Without question, they are both pillars on their U14 team, leading by example," he continued. "I am confident they can both set post-secondary soccer as a realistic goal if they continue training and developing. They are both committed to soccer, year-round."
