Martin leads Raiders to boys AA crown
Soccer has become an escape for Miguel Martin.
The 16-year-old, Grade 10 student immigrated to Canada with his father from his native Colombia four years ago, leaving behind the only world he knew.
“I’ve been through a lot because I left a lot family and friends in Colombia,” Martin said. “I miss them.”
Soccer has given Martin a much needed respite.
“Playing soccer, I forget about everything. Everything else goes away when I play soccer,” Martin said.
Martin was front and centre Tuesday helping the Holy Cross Raiders to a 3-1 win over the St. Jean-de-Brebeuf Lynx 3-1 in the A/AA senior boys championship final at the 10th Annual Niagara Cup held at Youngs Sportsplex in Welland.
“I scored some goals, made some passes and made some good plays and some good go-through balls,” Martin said. “I played for my team.”
Raiders coach Marc Ferretti is a big fan of Martin.
“He’s small, but what a heart,” Ferretti said. “He’s a good young man. I’m very, very proud of him. He plays with a big heart.”
Ferretti said Martin has made significant progress since last season.
“He has a great touch and finish. He’s been doing well for us. He played on the outside for us last year and this year he’s developing more of the offence.”
The Raiders won all four of their games to capture the title, their second at the Niagara Cup since 2017.
“It’s one of our missions,” Ferretti said. “Every year we have a few missions and one is to gather team chemistry. We’re usually one of the top teams so we try and push that and we also have a tough regular season in our league.
“Our mission was to play some good D, get some chemistry and obviously the added bonus is winning the title.”
Ferretti said the Raiders have all the necessary ingredients for tournament success.
“We’re blessed with a lot of depth. We’re built for a tournament or a long season. We’re fortunate at Holy Cross. We’ve been like that for years,” Ferretti said.
With so many games in such a short period, Ferretti said mistakes can be even more costly than usual.
“You need to strike quick and hold the fort but we also have to keep good D,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a one or two goal lead, one goal can change things like that. We’re fighting the elements, we’re fighting other teams and fighting ourselves. We try and correct those mistakes as quickly as possible and try and put out the lineup that can strike quick and then respond if need be.”
Lynx head coach Danielle Chartrand was ecstatic with the showing of her squad.
“It was very exciting because this is our best record at this tournament, making it to the finals,” Chartrand said. “The past two years that we’ve been playing since I was coaching we haven’t made it past the quarter-finals.”
Chartrand said the Lynx have been developing team chemistry.
“The players have been playing with each other for a little bit more now, especially the Grade 10s,” she said. “They are the most amount of cohort that we have so those boys have played together a lot more.”
Owen Corcoran, Gianni Taylor and Walter Perez scored for the Raiders.
Jeremy Benson, assisted by Enzo Aka, replied for the Lynx.
Other members of the winning team are: Seth vanderZalm, Owen Bradford-Andrew, Fernando Najera, Hunter Cyr, Michael Haramina, Thiago Ulin, Lucas Roberts Ramos, Giancomo Bisirri, Isaiah Lewis, Juan Lozano Delgado, Rhony Martinez, Preston Athanosolopus, Donnacha Nolan, Nolan Grealy, Mason Corcoran, Logan Smythe.
The boys AAA tournament will be held Wednesday at Youngs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
A junior boys tournament will go from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at Youngs.
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