Yesterday saw the third annual Kicking Cancer’s Butt coed soccer tournament take place at the Louis Riel Dome, raising over $8,300 for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. Over the past three years, the tournament has now raised over $24,000 for the ORCF.
A competitive morning section saw Cowabunga Dude! (complete with custom made mutant turtle uniforms), Mayday, Xelaju Fc and Blackout qualify for the final 8. Cowabunga Dude! got off to a flyer, rattling off comprehensive victories over fellow qualifiers Xelaju FC and Blackout in the first two games of the tournament and completing the morning with a 4-0 record. In section B, Mayday also finished undefeated whereas Blackout made it through by the narrowest of margins, defeating the Men in Black on the 4th round of sudden death penalties.
The first team to arrive for the afternoon session we wii Not Fit, and after taking one look at the magnificent Kicking Cancer’s Butt trophy, they confidently predicted that it would be theirs at the end of the day. Their tongue in cheek boastfulness looked ill founded as they faced elimination unless they could defeat group leaders Titans in their final group game.However, a narrow 3-2 victory put them through in second place behind Ballbreakers to face Mucho Infermo. Despite Mucho Infermo recording the only 100% record of the afternoon, wii Not Fit defeated them to qualify for the final 8 and keep their hope alive.
The defending champions Mazamorra Morada were minutes away from not qualifying from the group section but 2 late, late goals, overturned a 4-3 final game deficit against the Hustlers. The section was won by the Gunners who played exceptionally well to top the toughest group of the day. Although Dynamo Winfund recorded their first tournament victory after three years of trying, Rangers and Goalfinger edged them out in section D.  However, neither negotiated the playoff leaving wii Not Fit, Mazamorra Morada, Gunners and Ballbreakers to carry the flag for the afternoon teams in the final 8.
Cowabunga Dude! and wii Not Fit set up a semi-final matchup with identical 2-1 victories and the scoreline was repeated in the semi with wii Not fit coming out on top. In the other half of the draw Mayday knocked out the defending champions on penalty kicks before edging out Gunners in the semi final. Mayday took an early lead in the final but intense pressure from wii Not Fit paid off with a 2nd half equaliser. The final minutes saw Mayday come close to winning it, hitting the post and seeing the Wii keeper make a stop with the last kick off the game. The final to penalty kicks. The first 5 shooters were perfect until the sixth penalty crashed off the inside of the wii Not Fit’s keeper’s post and back out, handing wii Not Fit the trophy and the bragging rights for the 3rd Kicking Cancer’s Butt Tournament.
We have some more photos and video from the tournament and we’ll post them online once we have a chance to edit them. We’d also like to offer our sincere thanks to all of the teams, players and referees who made the tournament such a resounding success. Roll on Kicking Cancer’s Butt 4!