Ontario Soccer announced on April 17th the 2023 Ontario Provincial Xcel Team player rosters and one talented teenager made the cut. 14-year-old Sophia Correale, a goalie for the Oakville Soccer Club will be playing on the 2023 Ontario Provincial Xcel U-14 A Team this spring.
Sophia, who attends Sts. Martha and Mary Catholic School in Mississauga, has played soccer from a young age, following in the footsteps of her older siblings who also played the sport. Sophia fell in love with playing soccer after she found herself not wanting to stop playing.
"I knew once I couldn’t stop playing," says Sophia. "Every day I would want to go to practice and every day I would want to play and I didn’t ever want to stop."
When Sophia received an email from one of the soccer directors, she was thrilled, "I was very excited and really happy that one of my dreams was able to come true."
Both on and off the soccer field, Sophia has loads of support: "My parents definitely because they make a lot of sacrifices for me and support me… I play a year up, they [Sophia’s teammates] are in high school but I’m not but they are still so supportive and they always congratulate me when I do well and they always pick me up when I make mistakes," she says.
Player selection occurs over the course of a calendar year and players are mainly identified through the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) or secondarily, through talent on location days for players not enrolled in the talented pathway.
Scouts focus on player screening, talent identification and the benchmarking of players throughout the year to determine who to invite to the Provincial Xcel teams.
Sophia’s first game with the Provincial Xcel A team is this Sunday, April 29 against Ontario's U-14 Provincial Xcel B team at the Ontario Soccer Center.