Ezurike, Poirier amongst soccer winners at IKON Sport Awards

Nkem Ezurike has won the IKON Female Team Athlete of the Year award at this year’s IKON Sport Awards presented by Sport Nova Scotia. Ezurike was one of three soccer award winners at this year’s event, joined by Official of the Year Shauna Poirier and Team of the Year Halifax City Salty’s women’s soccer.



This past year, Ezurike won a bronze medal at the 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship and a gold medal at the 2008 BMO National Championships. She won the bronze with Canada in July and the gold with Halifax City Salty’s in October. She then represented Canada at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup New Zealand 2008 in November, leading the team with two goals and helping the team reach the quarter-final stage.



Poirier, meanwhile, was an assistant referee in Canada’s two most recent women’s international friendly matches at BMO Field in Toronto – a 1:1 draw between Canada and Brazil on 11 July 2008 and an 0:4 Canadian loss to USA on 25 May 2009. Already on the National List, she joined the FIFA List of Assistant Referees earlier this year.



The Halifax City Salty’s, at last, became the second Nova Scotia club to win the Jubilee Trophy this past October at the 2008 BMO National Championships. Halifax City won the Jubilee Trophy after defeating North London Galaxy in the final in St. John’s, NL. Ezurike (4th and 41st minutes) and former national-team player Mary-Beth Bowie (16th minute) were the goal scorers in the 3:2 victory.



Along with Ezurike and Bowie, Halifax City’s starting XI in the final featured Ashleigh Bellefontaine, Melissa Gaudet, Katie Prowse, Ally Read, Courtney MacGray, Hannah Abenheimer, Erica Bowie, Eunnie Kim and Sarah d’Apollonia. The team also featured Hannah Emmett, Laurel Fougere, Jacqueline Gallagher, Katie Little, Elissa McCarron, Rieke Santilli, Rachael Swetnam, and Maura Woodman.