League 1 Ontario 2017--Week 09

[Rocket Robin]

Result and details of the Saturday June 24, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Aurora FC and North Mississauga Panthers played at Highland Park in Aurora
at 9:00pm.

34 min...Panthers Andi Motina GOAL...NMP Sundin Esperance takes a long throw-in
from the left and Motina recovers the ball at about 20 yards near the center.
He has a first shot blocked but recovers a few steps to the right and shoots
a low 18 yarder to the left corner of the net beyond sprawling goalie
Nicholas Luciani.

Final Score:......Aurora FC.......0.......North Mississauga Panthers......1...

Attendance was about 30 for this late night game with thousands of mosquitoes.
It was moved from Aurora's regular venue at St Maximillion Kolbe HS because
the school had booked an event before the schedule first came out a team
official answered me. The Aurora women's team was still playing Vaughan
when I arrived. Vaughan won that game 2-1 to make it a miserable day for
both Aurora L1O teams.

I didn't expect to be here but the Master's vs Sanjaxx game was postponed
for a week and a half I suppose by request because Master's had played
a midweek Cup game on Wednesday. I hadn't been to Highland Park since
2002--I believe watching York Region Shooters. This facility isn't too
far from their regular venue. It has natural grass, no scoreboard, and
limiting parking. A clubhouse facility makes it hard to determine how
many people were watching. Also the field looked like it sloped downhill
to the west. I saw the last twenty minutes of the ladies game and it was
played in the west end but that may have been because Aurora was pressing
for a tying goal. It didn't seem to be a factor in the men's game.

Referee Kuizan Weekes gave out three Yellow cards (two to Aurora).
Both coaches would have liked more cards--to their opponents of course!
I know the officials consulted about the lights and now I realize that must
have played a factor to how they managed the game. The game ended at 10:59pm
at three minutes of added time and exactly one minute later the stadium
lights went off! Must have been some city bylaw for an 11:00pm curfew.
Some fans in the parking lot turned on their car headlights to help
the players get off the field.

Roberto Custodio Caranzza earned the shutout for North Mississauga.
He made a few key stops but was greatly aided by this defenders
of Daniel Whyte, Mathew Monteiro, Tom Wrobel, and Sundin Esperance
clearing a lot of balls into the box or blocking shots. Black numbers
on red uniforms were especially difficult to see with the just adequate
brightness of the stadium lights. (Thanks again to Andi Motina for
stitching his goal together for my recap).

Panthers looked the more likely team to score to increase their lead
in the second half. 51 minutes had AFC Frederic Ameyaw take a freekick
from 28 yards after a teammate dummied and the goalie pushed the shot
wide left of the post. 62 minutes had NMP Sundin Esperance take
a cornerkick from the left that had NMP Andi Motina head an 8 yarder
just over the bar. 80 minutes had NMP Lee-Victor Massunda cross from
25 yards on the left and Motina headed a 10 yarder wide right. 90 minutes
had NMP Mathew Monteiro recover a clearance and blast a 28 yarder from
the left that the goalie palmed over the bar.

North Mississauga improves their record to 3 wins, 6 losses, 0 ties
for 9 points and sixth place in the West. While there's no playoffs
except a one-off East-West championship game and there's not much chance
of getting to that game nearing the halfway mark of the season,
Panthers won their second round L1O Cup match over Toronto FC III
ten days ago to advance to the semi-finals of that competition.
The North Miss women's team won the inaugural L1O Cup for women in 2015.

Aurora's record falls to 1 win, 7 losses, 1 tie for 4 points and seventh
place out of eight in the East.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

[Rocket Robin]

Results of the Sunday June 25, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Vaughan Azzurri and Windsor TFC Stars played at McNaughton Turf
in Maple at 2:00pm.

18 min...WTS Damon Johnson-Holder pulls down VA Jahsua Mills after
long run down left side and into box.  Referee Fabrizio Stasolla
gives Johnson-Holder a Yellow card and awards VA a Penalty kick.

19 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...Whiteman rolls Penalty kick to left
side of net as goalie Kyle Vizirakis dives right.

51 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...W Damon Johnson-Holder takes throw-in from left at W 22 yard line has W defender
threatened by VA player and he chips cross from left edge of W box over to another W player who eludes VA Tomaxz Sklublak
but Whiteman charges in and chests ball down at 18 yards on right and shoots low 8 yarder under sliding goalie
into left corner of net.  (edited)

Final Score:....Vaughan Azzurri......2.....Windsor TFC Stars.....0...

Attendance was about 30 on this warm day that was mostly overcast with
rain before the game, then again at 41 minutes which turned into a hail
storm with thunder and lightning.  I measured a 38 minute halftime
because of the 30 minute rule from the last strike of lightning. 
Fourth official Jason Thomas ordered the WTS players back to the dressing
room just before the hail started.  It did make sense as they wouldn't
have all fit under the player's bench canopy.  Photographer Martin Bazyl
and I were cowering under the fourth official's canopy.  He was taking
pictures and making movies to upload to twitter.  During the second half
the sun even came out!  The hail had melted before the second half started. 
The stones were about as big as chick peas.

Windsor was stalling the game officials during the warmups delaying
handing in their lineups.  No wonder as they had only eleven guys. 
By the time of the national anthems they had two guys to spare and finished
with four extra players on the bench.  Their starters were flipped around
with the two extra guys to use more of the players they wanted. 
Captain Stephen Ademolu was still tying his shoes during
the national anthem.  

Sure they ended up having enough guys and a moderate bench but the
uncertainty must have left them rattled.  Ademolu told me at halftime
that they were caught in traffic then he was almost hit by a car
crossing the street (as the players dressing rooms are on the other
side of McNaughton Road at the Maple Community Centre.  This would
be a five hour drive on a good day...measure Detroit to Toronto in your
atlas you out of province readers.  Must have been some car pool.
Windsor are direct descendants of the league I followed before and they
had trouble getting enough guys out for GTA games back then too. 

Referee Fabrizio Stasolla gave out two Yellow cards to each team. 
He got hit with the ball twice that I saw.  He also called a break
at 50 minutes on what he expected was a head injury as two players
crashed together just on the edge of the Windsor box.  When he checked
on their condition and found nothing was wrong he ordered a drop ball. 
Whiteman deliberately rolled the ball over the end line to give Windsor
a goalkick.  Ok sounds fair.  Goalie Kyle Vizirakis then places the ball
for a goalkick and goes short so WTS could work the ball out but what
it looked like he kicked it straight to Whiteman who quickly stopped
the ball and scored on a sharp angle shot.  Whiteman had a few more
chances to get a hattrick. 

Colin Vance earned the shutout for Vaughan.  He had a few key saves
to make.  WTS most threatening player was Noah Pio.  Azzurri have only
allowed six goals in eight league games which is best in the league.

The thirty fans disappeared over halftime with the storm but a little
more than half returned.  I noticed a guy wearing a K-W United windbreaker. 
I started talking about them and asked who he was.  It was Jared Brown! 
He was not on the PDL champions team but he said he is on this year's team! 
I was thrown because I am following them on twitter and read they were
on a road trip in Ohio this week but he said he'd just got back.  He was
on the 2016 team that came to Toronto with only 11 guys for the first game
of the year and beat the Toronto FC Academy 7-0 in TFC's last year in PDL. 
I had forgotten until I looked up his bio that he is the goalie. 

The win improves Vaughan's record to 8 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie for 19 points
and were third place in the East at the start of the day.

Windsor's record falls to 2 wins, 3 losses, and 4 ties for 10 points and
would stay in fifth place in the West and may even drop a place
depending on other results. 

Now for me it's off to Woodbridge to see them play FC London. 

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter RocketRobin01

[Rocket Robin]

Result and details of the Sunday June 25, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Woodbridge Strikers and FC London played at Vaughan Grove in Vaughan at 7:00pm.

24 min...FCL Elvir Gigolaj GOAL...FCL Sandro Rajkovic receives short forward pass
at center line and runs down the middle but is caught by two retreating defenders
and pushes pass to right for charging Gigolaj who continues run from 30 yard line
and shoots 20 yarder from right into short right side of net past diving
goalie Quillan Roberts.

52 min...FCL goalie Aaron McMurray slides at 10 yards near left end line that
trips up a WS player. Referee Lukasz Kowalewski calls for a Penalty kick.

53 min...WS Dylan Carreiro GOAL...Carreiro shoots Penalty kick low to left corner
of net under diving goalie.

Final Score:.....Woodbridge Strikers.....1....FC London.....1....

Attendance was about 200 on this warm and sunny evening. It still wasn't dark
by the time the game ended. I'd been at the Vaughan vs Windsor in the afternoon
and fans went through a rain storm and hailstorm besides overcast and sun all
within two hours so it was nice to have the weather stay consistent
for two hours.

A lot of action after the tying goal although it could have been part
of anywhere in the game. Woodbridge overall had more chances for the
ninety minutes. 55 minutes had WS Milan Beader make a long run up the middle
on a 2 on 1 rush and his low 22 yard shot was stopped point blank by the
sprawling goalie at 15 yards. At 58 minutes FCL switched goalies with
Anthony Sokalski replacing starter Aaron McMurray. It didn't look like there
was any injury for the swap. McMurray was more aggressive with him coming
out up to 40 yards to make a clearance. 63 minutes had WS Christian Cavallini
recover a ball on a defender tripping on his own and he passed to the right
and WS Emmanuel Issac get an 18 yard shot that was stopped by the sprawling
goalie at 6 yards in WS's fourth chance in the five minutes since the switch.
76 minutes had FCL Elvir Gigolaj get a breakaway on the left from 35 yards
but goalie Quillan Roberts slid at 15 yards and Gigolaj pushed the ball
past him and ran to the end line to recover but by then a defender cut over
to block his angle. 86 minutes had WS Dylan Carreiro take a 25 yard freekick
down the middle that hit the underside of the cross bar and the goalie flew
back and swatted it away. Injury time had WS Luca Baldassarre take
a low 15 yarder up the middle that the goalie dove to save. Two minutes
later Baldassarre jumped to pop a 12 yard header from the left over the bar.
Nope..gonna be a tie tonight.

FC London brought a mid-size charter bus tonight. They not only had a full
bench but it looked like they had about two or three extra guys watching
from the stands. After watching the Windsor TFC Stars team get to the GTA
today in what must have been the car pool from hell—an empty bench until
just before game time, and almost two hours further away south west than
the three hour plus drive from London, a bus is the better way to travel
for long distance drives.

Referee Lukasz Kowalewski gave out two Yellow cards to each team plus
awarding Shooters a Penalty kick. He also ejected manager John Scarlato
from the Woodbridge bench right after giving a Yellow card
to WS Dylan Carreiro at 35 minutes within a few yards of their bench
so it must have been for some kind of dissent.

A large L1O sized crowd tonight was nice. There were a strange collection
of hecklers. A group of player-age guys wearing Croatia garb. The checker
patterns of the national team, club teams, and there could have even been
Toronto Croatia gear were singing and laughing out for referee's assistant
Braeden Krampert but lucky for him he was on the far side of the field
so wouldn't be able to hear them well. Also a family group were heckling
WS cornerback Quante Abbott-Hill-Smith on almost every play. It started
to make sense later when they answered me they were here to cheer
on Kyler Smalling who the father said was an 'oh-one'--hmm that would
make him age 15 or 16 and waiting to make his L1O debut. He was
an unused sub.

**Late addition: I found some of my old reports and Braeden Krampert
played for both Toronto Croatia and Hamilton Croatia in the 2009 and
2010 season so that may explain the 'fans'.

It turns out that this game was a rematch from Wednesday night where
these two teams playing here with Woodbridge winning a second round
L1O Cup match by a 3-0 score. That would have been a strange evening
as at the Ontario Soccer Centre which is only about four football
fields away, Vaughan Azzurri (who usually play at McNaughton Turf about
25 km away) were beating Master's FA Saints 6-1 with exactly the same
starting time.

Woodbridge and Vaughan met in last year's L1O Cup final. We are now down
to the semi-finals so it could happen again. It can't be for the league
championship because both teams are in the 'Eastern Conference' although
both are west of Yonge Street but they were divvied out this way when
the league was organized to ensure two strong conferences.

Woodbridge's record improves to 7 wins, 1 loss and now 1 tie for 22 points.
That's still good enough to hang on to first place in the East but they
lose ground to Vaughan who closes to 19 points to a tie for second place
(after beating Windsor) with North Toronto Nitros who lost earlier today.

FC London improve to 3 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties for 12 points for fourth
place in the West but they have exactly half the points of first place
Oakville Blue Devils at almost the halfway point of the season.
Only playoffs are the first place teams in the East and West
in a one game final for the championship.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter RocketRobin01
 

[Kent]

200 people! Not bad. Does Woodbridge often draw that many fans or was this a particularly big crowd? I assume the Croatian contingent to cheer for/against the referee's assistant didn't make up a significant percentage of the crowd.

[to70]

My guess would be that they might have been relatives of Sandro Rajkovic who is of Croatian heritage from Hamilton.Also FC London's coach is Croatian.

[Rocket Robin]

On ‎6‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 11:07 AM, Kent said:

200 people! Not bad. Does Woodbridge often draw that many fans or was this a particularly big crowd? I assume the Croatian contingent to cheer for/against the referee's assistant didn't make up a significant percentage of the crowd.

It was my first Woodbridge home game this season.  If the weather is good, they can draw 200 (from what I remember last season).

I'd go with the other Croatians FCL player and coach.  Finding Krampert was there was just a coincidence.  No commotion at other games he's involved in.