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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 23, 2008 - 39 39 Sports Oakville Beaver www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell Broker of Record 905-844-4444 B R O K E R A G E I N D E P E N D E N T LY O W N E D A N D O P E R AT E D SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008 Matheson, Lang thrilled to be bound for Beijing By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Blades rout Dryden 5-1 in Dudley opener By Jon Kuiperij BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR If there is ever any doubt of the place the Olympic Games hold in the heart of an athlete, just ask Oakville's Kara Lang. The 21-year-old has been playing internationally since she was 15 and is already a veteran of two Women's World Cups. She has been a part of Canada's biggest triumphs in women's soccer. And yet, she makes it very clear what last Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Mexico in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament means. "The World Cup, technically, is the highest level you can play at," Lang said from Los Angeles, where she attends UCLA. "At the same time, there's nothing like the Olympics. It's not just an exciting event for soccer players, it's exciting for everyone and to be able to represent your country there is incredible." For teammate Diana Matheson, the thought of competing at the Olympics never occurred to her until she first represented her country with the OAKVILLE BEAVER FILE PHOTO GOING FOR GOLD: Diana Matheson and the Canadian women's soccer team earned a spot at the Beijing Olympics with a second-place finish at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Mexico. It will be the first-ever trip to the Games for the team. senior team. "I didn't even start to think about it until I made the national team," the White Oaks grad said. "Then it sort of dawned on me, `I could go to the Olympics." It was only a year after Matheson's debut with Canada that the team had the opportunity to qualify for its first-ever Olympic berth. The team was only five months removed from a fourth-place See Olympic page 40 NEWMARKET - If the Dryden Ice Dogs are indeed the best competition the Dudley Hewitt Cup has to offer the Oakville Blades, the Blades must like their chances. Paced by a natural hat trick from Nick McParland, Oakville opened the Central Canadian junior A hockey championships yesterday with a 5-1 win over the Ice Dogs, outshooting the Superior International Junior Hockey League champions 37-20 in the process. Dryden entered the tournament as the fifthranked junior A team in Canada, the highest ranking in the four-team Dudley Hewitt field. The Blades will continue the tournament today with a 2:30 p.m. contest against the Sudbury Junior Wolves at the Ray Twinney Recreation Complex. "It feels really good. We were really worried about getting off to a weak start, and we kind of did, but we came back and played hard," said McParland. Oakville -- listed sixth in those national rankings -- used goals by Julian Cimadamore and McParland to build a 2-1 lead after two periods. McParland added another marker eight minutes into the third, and the Blades -- as if smelling blood -- poured it on from there. See McParland page 40 C Vs. KANSAS CITY WIZARDS SATURDAY APRIL 26, 2008 12:30PM KICK OFF TOR R Vs. NEW YORK RED BULLS THURSDAY MAY 1, 2008 7:00PM KICK OFF PACKAGES AVAILABLE ONLINE www.oakvillesoccer.ca Contact Matt @ mmaclaren@oakville-soccer.on.ca for Group Bookings SUMMER CAMP SERIES 2008 BUS TRANSPORTATION NOW AVAILABLE!! CHECK OUT OUR EXCITING LINE UP OF DATES AND ACTIVITIES www.oakvillesoccer.ca ­ Summer Camps Link 504 Iroquois Shore Rd., Unit #11, Oakville, ON L6H 3K4 The Oakville Beaver Tel: 905-849-4436 Fax: 905-849-3677 A Proud Sponsor of Oakville Soccer Club