South Huron Rush capture Cup championship

ST. THOMAS – The South Huron Rush are third division Cup champions after a 1-0 overtime victory over the Upper Canada Rebellion in St. Thomas on Aug. 18.

The Rush, who play in the London and Area Women’s Soccer League’s third division, are enjoying a strong season this year, and currently sit in second place as the season winds down.  

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Cup games are held separately from regular season action, and leading up to their Cup championship Aug. 18, the Rush previously won Cup games over Southend United and Ingersoll.  

Head coach Katherine Esch said she and coach/manager Colleen Dobinson are proud of the team for its Cup championship, particularly since the team they beat, Upper Canada Rebellion, is the one team in front of South Huron in the standings. The last time the two teams played, Upper Canada, which Esch described as “quite stacked,” won 2-0.  

As a result, the South Huron Cup win was “a little extra sweet,” Esch said.  

She said both teams were evenly matched in the game, which featured strong defensive play from each side. Esch said it was a matter of which team would finally capitalize on an error.  

And that didn’t happen until overtime, when South Huron’s Alyssa Stephens scored about seven minutes in.  

“We were ecstatic,” Esch said of the victory, which featured a shutout from Rush goaltender Sophie Thorpe.  

One challenge for the Rush to overcome was the fact they had to travel to St. Thomas for a 6:30 p.m. game on a weekday, which didn’t leave a lot of time to prepare for the game.  

“We didn’t get the warmup that I wanted, but people made an effort to definitely get there for at least part of the warmup,” Esch said.  

After a tough 2025 season, the Rush have rebounded with a successful season in 2026, including a regular season record of 11-2-2 as of Aug. 20. Esch said the Cup championship gives the Rush confidence they can win games against good teams.  

“But we have to play very well,” she said. “We need to be smarter than the other team, as well as aggressive and work together. We still have things to work on, but that was a good game for us. A lot of things came together in that game.” 

As Esch spoke to the Times-Advance, the Rush had three regular season games remaining with a chance to win the division, as they trailed first-place Upper Rebellion by only two points. But the coach cautioned that while third-place Curinga was 10 points behind the Rush, Curinga had five games remaining and could overtake the Rush. 

“We have to win the next three,” she said, noting the Rush are missing some players due to school and injury.  

“The pressure’s on for the last three games.” 

Visit lawsl.e2esoccer.com/Games_Schedules.aspx for the remaining schedule.