Article on the Traganitis Cup (R)

[DoyleG]

From the August 31st edition of the Alliston Herald that I grabbed before I left CFB Borden.

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Alliston Arsenal win Traganitis Cup

It has been an eight-year wait, but cup finally returns to Alliston

In June of this year, 20 teams began the quest for the prestigious Traganitis Cup. And in the end, the Alliston Arsenal defeated Owen Sound United 1-0 in the championship game held at Nottawasaga Resort Aug. 21 to recapture the cup after eight long years.

The Alliston Arsenal team dominated Owen Sound on the ground and in the air for a decisive cup win laying to rest Owen Sound's series of boastful pre-match comments about winning this

In an impressive team effort, the Arsenal squad generated many scoring opprotunities that could have easily resulted in a 3-0 or 4-0 win, but they did everything but capitalize on those opprotunities.

Late in the game, Jason Graham started yet another heads-up offensive burst with a quick throw in to Andre Therrien who spotted Dino Biffis on the run. He in turn one-touched a perfect pass on the fly over the defender's heads onto the foot of Chris Graham, who struck the lone goal in the 86th minute of play to capture the championship victory to the cheers of the hometown crowd.

Arsenal defence played a key roll in the cup win along with Alliston Arsenal goaltender Aaron Garwood, who had another exception game and posted back-to-back cup shut-out victories against the two highest scoring teams in the league: Owen Sound for the cup victory and Barrie City in the semi-final match for a 2-0 Arsenal victory.

In regular season play, Alliston Arsenal took command of second place in the standings in the Premier Division of the York Region Soccer League with a 1-0 win over Newmarket Rovers on Tues., Aug. 23. Chris Graham drove home a bullet shot for the only goal of the game while Aaron Garwood had a stellar game to preserve the victory and keep the shut-out streak alive.

With three games remaining in the 2005 season, the Arsenal has its sites set on defeating division-leading Owen Sound again, this time in a bid to win the League Championship.