Alberta’s Calgary Foothills Crew men and Calgary Foothills Athletics women won the Sony U-18 Cup at the 2009 BMO National Championships in Sherwood Park, AB. The Crew won 7:1 over Niagara Falls Titans in the men’s final while the Athletics won 2:1 over Burnaby United in the women’s final.

Calgary took a 4-1 lead through 45 minutes, getting a pair of goals from Brett Howard. In the second half, Howard completed his hat trick en route to Calgary’s big 7:1 victory.

Calgary’s starting XI featured David Thalheimer in goal, Christopher Wycliffe-Jones, JJ Cristobal, Tyrin Hutchings and Nikolaus Saler on defence, Robert Pryde, Charlie Trafford, John Troncoso and Kieran Oppenheim at midfield, and Micheal Cox and Bret Howard up front.

In the women’s final, Burnaby opened the scoring in the second half and appeared to be heading for the gold. Calgary finally caught a break and quickly turned things around.

'We struggled to score,' said Calgary head coach Colin MacKay. 'It seemed like one of those days that you do everything right, but you come out on the wrong end.'

Calgary had actually missed a penalty opportunity in the first half. Down 1-0, Calgary then hit the post on a pair of occasions in the second half. Finally in the 85th minute, Lisa Hickey evened the score. Four minutes later, Sara Paul fired home the winner.

Calgary’s starting XI featured Katrina Greenlay in goal, Luci Tansley, Lalyla Mein, Kara Noel and Madison Pinder on defence, Natasha Lombardo and Chelsie Oddan at midfield, Cassandra Dennis and Janelle Samoluk on the wings, and Paige Doyle and Sara Paul up front.

'BMO Financial Group, Canada’s Soccer Bank, is proud to be a big supporter of the beautiful game of soccer,' said Lynda Taylor, Vice President, Edmonton District, Personal & Commercial Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal. 'BMO employees and soccer fans alike have been thrilled with the level of competition at the BMO National Championships here in Sherwood Park. We are proud of these exceptional athletes and want to thank all the volunteers who helped stage such a stellar competition.'

The top four teams in the men’s competition were Calgary Foothills Crew, Niagara Falls Titans, PEI Winsloe Irving, and FC Outaouais. Sebastian Munro of Vancouver Selects won the Top Goal Scorer award, FC Outaouais won the BMO Goal Saver award, and Codiac First Touch won the Fair Play award.

The top four teams in the women’s competition were Calgary Foothills Athletics, Burnaby United, Cap-Rouge/St-Augustin and West Rouge Storm. Sara Paul of Calgary won the Top Goal Scorer award, Cap-Rouge/St-Augustin won the BMO Top Goal Saver award, and West Prince Storm won the Fair Play award.

BMO Financial Group is proud to support soccer at all levels across Canada, from grassroots to Canada’s national teams. Starting with sponsorship of more than 400 Canadian youth teams to the title support of elite youth players at the BMO National Championships, through to the professional-team support (Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC) and sponsorship of the Canadian men’s and women’s national soccer teams, BMO Financial Group is serious about Canadian soccer. For more information on BMO’s support of soccer in Canada, visit bmosoccer.com.