Former teammates earn MVP honours
A pair of former teammates earned MVP honours at the Ninth Annual Knights Niagara Region Boys Soccer Showcase Wednesday night at Youngs Sportsplex.
Blessed Trinity’s Romero Nicolazzo earned MVP honours for Team White with a hat trick in a 4-1 win while Smithville Christian’s Jeremy Talsma grabbed top honours for Team Blue. Saint Michael’s Joshua Salonen also scored for Team White and A.N. Myer’s Seanesy Lovrics and E.L. Crossley’s Brandon Bernardi replied for Team Blue.
“I haven’t seen Jeremy for awhile after I went to Rochester and he went to the Flash but it good to see him again, reunite with him and both of us get MVPs,” said Nicolazzo, who is heading to Canisius this August on a soccer scholarship.
“In my freshman year, I’d like to get some good playing time, score a couple of goals and make an impact,” the 18-year-old Beamsville resident said.
Nicolazzo, who plays with Club Roma League2 under Niagara College men’s coach Frank DeChellis, had a blast at Wednesday’s game organized by Niagara College.
“I came here to have fun and hang out with my friends. I wanted to play well, do my best and scored as many goals as I could because I play striker. It was a great time and I am very happy to be invited to this.”
Nicolazzo scored his goals in a span of a few minutes, including one from near half when the Team Blue keeper strayed too far from his crease.
He started playing soccer in Saltfleet when he was four with his father, Frank, as the coach. He then moved to Global Premier Soccer where he continued to be coached by his father until joining teams in Hamilton and then Rochester.
Talsma, a Grade 12 student who started playing soccer when he was four years old, currently suits up for the Scrosopppi FC League2 club in Milton but he has also gotten into some action with that club’s League1 team.
One of the two MVPs at the Next 10 high school boys basketball all-star game in March, Talsma was thrilled to also compete in the Niagara College event.
“It was such an honour to play in it and it is really awesome to have something like this. It’s great to participate and it is like the basketball one. It’s cool that every sport has their all-star game to play.”
He took a typical approach to the game.
“It is the same as playing in any all-star game. It’s go out and have fun but there is always a part of you that wants to win. You battle a little bit but I am not too unhappy with the loss. I am just happy we could play.”
This fall, Talsma is heading to Niagara University to play for the NCAA Division 1 Purple Eagles.
“That is exciting for me. I looked at a few different schools like Gannon University and a couple other D2 and D3 schools but Niagara was closer to my house. It is only a 30-minute drive, there is a good set of coaches, I know some of the guys on the team and they are really nice guys. I am looking forward to playing with them.”
He can’t wait to get started.
“I am going to try and get some playing time and I am going to work my butt off this summer, come into training camp in August and work my butt off even more.”
Following were the rosters for the game:
Blue Team: Anthony DiGioa, Notre Dame; Aiden McIntosh, Centennial; Ronaldo Homenszki, Saint Michael; Jakub Labanowicz, Saint Francis; Aaron Lee, Notre Dame; Jeremy Talsma, Smithville Christian; Michael Harimina, Holy Cross; Lucas Pronik, Greater Fort Erie; Seanesy Lovrics, A.N. Myer; Sandro Elia, Saint Paul; Jack Pritchard, Eden; Noe Palma-Valencia, Lakeshore Catholic; Brandon Bernardi, E.L. Crossley; Aidan Mitchell, Governor Simcoe; Taylor Ker, Port Colborne; Tony Hendriks, Blessed Trinity.
White Team: Nolan Freel, Saint Francis; Liam Armstrong, A.N. Myer;; lOwen Bradford-Andrew, Holy Cross; John Kamendy, Denis Morris; Matthew Bogusat, Governor Simcoe; Noah Delvecchio, Sir Winston Churchill; Nick DiSanto, Saint Paul; Joshua Salonen, Saint Michael; Jacob Fedak, A.N. Myer; Julian Van Hooydonk, Heritage Christian; Jacob Avelar, Notre Dame; Ronan Stark, Saint-Jean-de-Brebeuf; Romero Nicolazzo, Blessed Trinity; Filip Arnold, Denis Morris; Jailson Gonzalez, Westlane; Enzo Aka, Saint-Jean-de-Brebeuf.
