The girls soccer team at Cardinal Leger proved heart and hard work can get you far.The Leger girls earned silver at the Toronto Catholic District School Board elementary soccer final on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at Esther Shiner Stadium.
Etobicoke's St. Gregory got the gold with a final score of 3-0.
"It was an interesting year," said co-coach Leger Angelo Talluto, who coached the team with Larry Stamcoff. "We're still shocked by the result. Usually we do well in soccer, but this year was the year our goals had to be scaled down. We made it this far last year with a much stronger team."
This is the third year in a row Leger girls have made it to the finals. Last year the team won and the year before they were finalists.
"We had one rep (soccer) player this year and maybe two or three house league players," he said. "The rest had never played soccer before."
Last year's team had four rep players, he said.
"We did what we always do," he said. "We played with heart. We are notorious for not giving up. This group had a lot of heart. They didn't give up. They're smart and athletic, which is a deadly combination. They're a special group."
Talluto has been coaching the girls for three years.
"They practised hard," he said. "They're focused. They work really well together."
Their attitude also helped them.
"We had some girls on our team who were tiny, little Grade 6s and some girls who had never played soccer," he said. "Literally they had never kicked a ball before. They rocked on defence. At one point they weren't even going to try out. They were scared of what would happen."
With each win, Talluto said the girls were grateful.
"It was unbelievable how well we played," he said. "We made it because of heart and hard work. I'm so proud of them."