Darlington Fusion

The U-18 Girl's Ontario Cup Final, presented by Room Roster, featured the Darlington Fusion taking on the Pickering Power Green. Darlington downed Oshawa Kicks Red 3-0 and Pickering defeated Oakville SC 2-0 to advance to the finals on Sunday.

Darlington opened the scoring in the final when Hailey Walsh slipped it through to Alicia Pallister in the 15th minute mark and she calmly slotted it home to make it 1-0. The extreme heat wore on the ladies early and the match officials called for a water break about halfway through the first half.

The break rejuvenated both teams and they would trade chances before the half but their efforts didn’t result in any further goals. Pickering got things going on the right foot in the second half. Just minutes into the second half, Pickering’s Katherine Bulgaretti powered through the ball at the edge of the box and unleashed a bullet that would level things at 1-1.

The heat would bog down the play once again and force the teams to battle through the heat. It wasn’t until the 77th minute when Darlington’s Emma Meadows got in behind the Pickering defence that the game picked up. Meadows slotted home her chance to give Darlington a 2-1 lead, kicking off a furious final few minutes as Pickering would push desperately to tie things once again. During that pressure to regain possession, Pickering pulled down a Darlington player in the 18-yard-box resulting in a penalty for the Fusion. Meadows would make no mistake from the penalty spot increasing Darlington’s lead to 3-1 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Samaira Sabbagh would ice it for Darlington in extra time to make it 4-1 and crown the Darlington Fusion as the U-18 Girls Ontario Cup champions!!!!