All-purpose Amye sparks Bulldogs

Grade 9 student Amye Buchan has quickly become a big part of the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs girls soccer team.

Amye scored once Tuesday to help the Bulldogs defeat the Eden Flyers 3-0 in a Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 4 AA semifinal play.

“Amye will play any position with enthusiasm,” Churchill coach Steve Mouck said. “She is an excellent defender, she is excellent with her feet, she is determined and she will go through a brick wall for you.”

The 15-year-old is more than happy to fill in all over the field.

“I like to play wherever I’m needed,” she said. “If someone is out, I will go play midfield or wherever to help.”

On her travel team, she plays centre back defence and when she is called up to her father’s squad, she suits up a striker.

“I like playing centre back defence, but I also like striker,” Amye said.

She is enjoying play high school soccer.

“It is so much fun and everyone comes together as a team,” she said.

She also likes playing with her older sister, Morgan.

“I play outside of school sometimes as a callus for my dad’s team and I really enjoy that.”

Mouck enjoyed how his team played Tuesday.

“We are finally quite pleased today,” Mouck said. “This is the first game that we had all 18 girls in attendance and able to play, healthy and with no work conflicts.

“It was the perfect time for that.”

Churchill went 3-1-1 in regular season action before blanking the Flyers in the semifinals.

Mouck described his team’s season to date as interesting.

“We started off with a couple of tournaments in Milton and we go to see some teams that we don’t normally play,” he said. “We played against some pretty strong teams which tested our defence and we found out there that we were having some difficulties scoring.

“We tried to make some changes and Amye was one of the girls who finally got the ball wide and we had some great scoring opportunities from that.”

Amye has seen the team improve week by week.

“When we started out, we didn’t know each other, but we are progressing really well.”

Churchill now advances to meet Grimsby in the NRHSAA Zone 4 AA final on Thursday. Grimsby blanked Governor Simcoe in the other semifinal Tuesday.

Eden went 1-3-1 in league play before falling to the Bulldogs in the semifinals.

“It was a great effort on their part,” Eden coach Danny Dischke said. “We played hard and we had a great season.”

It was a bit of an up and down year for the Flyers.

“We started off excellent and started out with some real strong players and then we were plagued with injuries,” Dischke said.

STATS PACK

Bulldogs 3 Flyers 0

Johnny Rocco’s/Mick and Angelo’s Players of the Game: Churchill’s Amye Buchan and Eden’s Avery Cushing.

For the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Morgan Buchan (2), Amye Buchan. Shutout by Kaley DeMont.

For the Eden Flyers: No scoring.