League 1 Ontario 2017--Week 17

[Rocket Robin]

Result and details of the Friday August 18, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
Durham United FA and Vaughan Azzurri played at Kinsmen Park in Pickering at 8:00pm.

9 min...DUFA Jumbo Iyowuna GOAL...DUFA Joseph Roccasalva turns back on right
sideline near cornerflag and crosses into box.  Iyowuna nods free header
from 8 yards to low left side of net past diving goalie Michael Argyndes.

39 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...VA Jackson Tooke intercepts pass
at DUFA 30 yard line and rolls ball to right for Whiteman to shoot 25 yarder
from right into top left corner over goalie Ben Cowman.

54 min...DUFA (VA Joseph Amato own goal) GOAL...DUFA Taylor Lord cross
from 15 yards on left has Amato take midair 5 yard clearance kick on right
side but he sends it into own net.

57 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...VA Joseph Amato sends high clearance kick
from 80 yards on left upfield and Whiteman gets pass at 35 yards on left
and runs between two defenders and rolls 18 yarder that goalie dives to left
but only gets piece of and rolls into left corner.

59 min...VA Jarek Whiteman GOAL...VA Joseph Di Chiara rolls pass from left
at 22 yards and Whiteman blasts 10 yarder in middle to top center of net.
The DUFA bench was complaining about why the VAs got away a quick freekick
from well downfield.

84 min...VA Jorgo Nika GOAL...VA Brandon Mills short pass from 30 yards
to left for Nika to shoot 18 yarder from left into top right side of net.

Final Score:.....Durham United FA......2.....Vaughan Azzurri....4...

Attendance was about 55 on this mild night with the sun already setting
below the tree line at the start of the game.

Lukasz Kowalewski gave out three Yellow cards that I counted. (two against
DUFA). He wasn't too popular from each team bench but he had control
of this game.

Jarek Whiteman scored three goals again last night for Vaughan. This is
the second game within a week that he's done that as he had all the goals
in their 3-0 win against Sanjaxx on Sunday. He now has 20 goals for the
season and pulls further ahead of FC London's Elvir Gigolaj with 13.

Michael Argyrides made his first start in goal for Vaughan. He is listed
as a 1999.  He gave up some rebounds but the defenders gave him time
to smother them and he was more inclined to palm or tip the ball than make
a risky catch attempt.  The more 'experienced' goalie until tonight was
Shyon Gaeeni who had his first game last week shutting out Sanjaxx. He is
also a 1999. They seemed to have taken over from Colm Vance, Andrew D'Souza
and Daniel Goscniak who had played all games until then. Vance I believe
is still with York University so that may account for his absence.

Another Vaughan player born in 1999 is Ryan Raposo who was recently named
Top Soccer Player at the Canada Games on the gold medal winning Team Ontario.

This was the first game of the season for midfielder Jonathan Lao who came
in at 80 minutes to replace Whiteman. Lao told me he had recovered by torn
patellas in both knees sustained in November.

I hadn't noticed ex TFC midfield player Chris Mannella on the Vaughan roster
in the last few league line-scores. I asked club official Tony De Palma and
he answered that they know he's trying out for some clubs in Spain. There's
some fan run mock drafts for the new CanPrem League that had him being
selected early but if that league doesn't start until maybe 2019, a guy has
to make a living so I can understand why he's over there trying to catch
on for a club.

This was the first match of the season held at Kinsmen Park in Pickering.
An L1O official before the game described to me how the grass had been cut
too short and there were track tire marks sunken into the field on the north
side making the grounds unplayable. As the GTA had rain every day or by
every third day for months, the ground would never even out. I enjoyed
watching DUFA games at the alternate indoor Pickering Soccer Centre
especially on nights when it rained, but the official said at the last
game it got so hot and humid in there his note paper stuck together.

Tonight the steady breeze at Kinsmen kept the bug count down and I didn't
have to use much spray. I also remembered from last year to take as many
pictures as I could in the first half because the stadium lighting isn't
so good once it's dark.

League 1 Ontario has now switched back to games within their own conference
for the last third of the season except for a few that were postponed.

The loss leaves DUFA in fourth place with a record of 7 wins, 6 losses,
3 ties for 24 points in the eight team Eastern conference.

The win improves Vaughan's record to 10 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties for
33 points and second place in the East only two points behind
Woodbridge Strikers who have not played this weekend.

DUFA and Vaughan had played to a 0-0 result on the opening weekend.
DUFA was selling this as a revenge game for the L1O Cup where Vaughan
knocked them out in the second round in Penalty kicks.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01
 

[Rocket Robin]

Result and details of the Saturday August 19, 2017 League 1 Ontario game between
North Mississauga Panthers and ProStars FC held at the Hershey Centre Fields
in Mississauga at 8:30pm.

57 min...NMP Anthony Wright GOAL...NMP Evan Beutler cornerkick from right
is over box but NMP Nicholas Martinez blasts 22 yarder from left that goalie
Jonathan Albanese stops but Wright shoots in rebound from 8 yards to right
side of goal.

86 min...NMP Andi Mortina GOAL...NMP Nicholas Martinez at 28 yards is pushed
by defender to lose ball. Mortina gets to ball and spins to get away 25 yarder
from left to top right corner of net.

Final Score:...North Mississauga Panthers...2...Pro Stars FC...0...

Attendance was about 100 on this mild night although windbreakers were worn
by almost everyone as it was almost dark by game time and the temperature
was dropping.

Referee Braedon Krampert gave out only two Yellow cards (one to each team)
that I counted, both in the first half to keep things under control. He was
near the sideline at 30 minutes when he gave one to PS Noah Costa--"that's
the third time" he said as if he was counting his high kicks. Well at least
he gave him warnings until then.

North Miss dominated this game in terms of possession and shots at goal.
Jonathan Albanese was in net for ProStars and still wearing a mask to protect
his broken nose but was daring enough to make diving saves and take
on any shot. It looked inevitable that North Miss would eventually score
but finally getting one in at two thirds mark and not being able to get
an insurance marker until near the end meant a tie was always a possibility.

Adam Majer earned the shutout for North Miss. He had all but a few routine
saves to make and covering the angles well made it look even easier.

ProStars were always one pass away from springing a break or getting
a clear shot. Even the parents were shouting things like "stop dithering
in the back" when times got desperate. Panthers defensive line of Daniel Whyte,
Anthony Wright, captain Gareth Davies, and Dale Cudmore frustrated ProStars
with their blocks and takeaways.

ProStars use a young lineup. Tonight they had seven teenagers starting.
Their subs bench was composed of mostly even younger teenagers. They have
scored a league low of 11 goals in 15 league games this year.

ProStars have moved three of their older players on to Europe. Adel Rahman (22)
and his brother Navid Rahman (21) have both signed for KFC Komarno of the
Slovakian Second Division and Uday Arora (21) has signed for Leixoes FC
of the Portuguese Second Division and that's just this month alone.

Black numbers on red shirts don't show up to well crossfield in the dark
so I had to use my binoculars a lot to see what North Miss were doing.

The start of the game was delayed by 15 minutes and almost lucky it was
played at all. The game officials found a ripped part of the field turf
in the north end 6 yard box. There was talk of moving the game to the next
field over which wasn't being used at that time of night but the DJ would
have to stay where he was as he said there weren't electrical plugs for his
equipment. Finally a maintenance guy brought over some yellow coloured duct
tape to patch the turf back down and get the game started. It didn't look
like the patch had any effect on the game. All the delays meant that they
skipped the national anthems but it was nice to hear the goals and subs
read out clearly.

It was my first time this season watching a Panthers home game although
the fifth time I've seen them this year. I have been to the Hershey fields
twice before but that was to watch Sigma FC home games who play here too.
In fact the Sigma game vs Toronto FC III was supposed to be played
at 4:00pm but it was postponed three days ago (doubtful they would have
known about the hole).  I asked a league official and she said it was
at TFC's request as they were in a tournament. Yes they are in a U-17 tourney
with Vaughan, Woodbridge, and Juventus (Italy) Italy this weekend. TFC III
usually has an older than age 16 lineup this season but that may
be the reason.

The win moves North Mississauga Panthers to a record of 5 wins, 8 losses,
2 ties for 17 points and fifth place in the Western Conference.

ProStars record falls to 0 wins, 14 losses, 1 tie for 1 point and last
in the eight team West. They are now the only team that hasn't won this year
after Toronto Skillz won on Sunday. ProStars and Skillz were supposed
to play on Thursday night in Brampton but the game was canceled by
'The Garden City' for wet grounds for the second time in three weeks...Thursday
it had really rained a lot during the day and evening.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01
 

[Kent]

I didn't see the game, but I just saw on the L1O website that Oakville beat Windsor 11-0 this weekend. I checked the box score and it looks like Windsor didn't have to play short handed like they did last weekend. They seem to have made 2 subs at half time based on the minutes played for each player on the website. Oakville are looking like the favourites to win the West. Sigma still has a shot though.

[Gopherbashi]

1 hour ago, Kent said:

I didn't see the game, but I just saw on the L1O website that Oakville beat Windsor 11-0 this weekend. I checked the box score and it looks like Windsor didn't have to play short handed like they did last weekend. They seem to have made 2 subs at half time based on the minutes played for each player on the website. Oakville are looking like the favourites to win the West. Sigma still has a shot though.

I saw a picture of the lineups during the anthem and it looked like Windsor only had 9 or 10 on the field.  I wonder if they played short because of a late carpool.

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

It's crazy to expect an amateur level (which is what L1O is in reality) Windsor team to travel any further than Chatham, London or Sarnia on a regular basis and even that would be pushing it in the latter two cases. Provincial level Ontario leagues always slowly turn into GTA ones because a regional conference format with managable travel distances is never adopted and the non-GTA teams eventually get fed up with all the travel that is involved given the level of play in Toronto although undoubtedly better on average isn't drastically higher than what you can get in a local league in cities like Windsor, London or Ottawa at least some of the time.

[Rheo]

Wish I could shed more light on the situation with Windsor.  However only been to two games ever and don't know anyone involved.  Did a quick news dive and there was nothing I could see.  Even the team web site news section hasn't been updated in a couple of weeks.  

[Rocket Robin]

Result and details of the Sunday August 20, 2017 League 1 Ontario game
between North Toronto Nitros and Toronto Skillz FC played
at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York at 7:00pm.

6 min...NTN Kinlay Shulman GOAL...NTN Nikolay Saveliev rushes down
left side and low cross from 20 yards along 6 yard line has charging
Shulman blast 6 yard shot forward into middle of net.

19 min...TS Julio Martorano tackles NTN Niklas Bauer who was running
into left side of box. Referee Joan Vlahos awards NTN a Penalty kick
and gives Martorano a Yellow card.

20 min...NTN Niklas Bauer GOAL...Bauer rolls Penalty kick to right side
of net as goalie Lucas Birnstingl dives left.

29 min...TS Liam Cox wins Penalty kick on sliding tackle on left side
of box.

30 min...TS Leslie Fitzpatrick GOAL...Fitzpatrick blasts Penalty kick
roller to right corner of net as goalie Stefan Dusciuc is frozen
in middle of goal.

50 min...NTN Niklas Bauer GOAL...NTN Kevin DaSilva on left passes low
centering ball to Bauer who from 12 yards controls ball and shoots
low 12 yarder into right corner of net.

51 min...TS RED card...Goalie Lukas Birnstingl earns it as the last man
back for grabbing shoulder of Kevin DaSilva who was deking by him
on edge of box. Tim Van Gelderen came in to play goalie and subbed
for field player Julio Matorano.

Final Score:...North Toronto Nitros....3...Toronto Skillz FC..1...

Attendance was about 50 on this hot and humid evening with the bright
sun setting in the north west. Nitros faced the east in the fiirst
half. The section I was in had a loud section of Skillz parents—even
louder than I remember last week at their home game against Windsor.

This is the first time this season I've been to Esther Shiner Stadium*.
I've been to two Nitros home games at Varsity Stadium in downtown
Toronto but now that the University of Toronto school season has
started the team is bumped (like last year) to whatever field they
can get. Early L1O schedule posting had their late season games
at Downsview Park (not on the KIA Training Grounds property) but
a move here is even closer to my home.

Referee John Vlahos gave out one Yellow card to each team, gave
a Penalty kick to each team and gave a Red to the Skillz goalie but
the teams were both well disciplined.

Nitros found early success running down the left side and after their
early goal exploited that continuously the rest of the half.

Nitros played very well defensively. They limited the number of shots
that Skillz took with timely blocks and swarming offensive players.
The one opening was on the play that resulted in the Skillz penalty
kick. Defender Jason Akoa had been injured and had left the field.
Nitros weren't expecting a sub so soon and had nobody warming up.
It took about 8 minutes to replace him. In his absence, Skillz ran
a play up the left side and the understrength defenders pulled
a player down. Next best chance was just before the half when
Neil Brown had a 7 yard shot stopped point blank by the sliding
Nitros goalie who recovered quickly and punted to start a fast
break upfield.

Niklas Bauer scored two tonight and three last weekend (one in each
game on a Penalty kick) to zoom up to 5 goals in only four games
this season (all within the last month).  Leading scorers on Nitros
are Mirza Custovic with 7 goals and Kyle Laborde-Agres with 6 goals
but neither have played since June.  Bauer took delight in some great
runs up the middle bashing by three defenders and then being stopped
or blocked by the fourth. 

Both teams had some chances in the second half. 59 minutes had
Nitros Nkolay Savaliev blast a 33 yarder between players off the bar.
65 minutes had Skillz Neil Brown cross from 28 yards after a run
down the left had the goalie step forward on the right post and got
a hand to and bat away to break up a TS player charging to the post.
Brown got another chance when he flicked a header from 12 yards
after receiving a long upfield pass that hit the outside of the
right post at 74 minutes. 80 minutes had Kinlay Shulman have
a 15 yard shot from the right hit the outside webbing of the net.
10 minutes later he had a 15 yard shot saved by the sprawling goalie
on the short side right post and his 8 yard rebound blast was blocked
by a defender.

I felt Skillz were greatly handicapped from any comeback attempt once
they were down to ten men and I was waiting for Nitros to roll
up the score.

Nitros record improves to 9 wins, 5 losses, 2 ties for 29 points with
a goals for/against of 41/24. They are in third place in the Eastern
Division only four points behind Woodbridge Strikers who did not play
tonight as they were in a tournament this weekend with Vaughan Strikers,
Toronto FC III, and Juventus (Italy) U-17 team. TFC III ended
up winning over Juventus in Penalty kicks.

This was the first game for Skillz after their first win of the season
last Sunday against a short sided Windsor. They were scheduled to play
a rescheduled game on Thursday night against the last team that hadn't
won this season but that game was postponed for a second time because
of a wet field.

Skillz record falls to 1 win, 13 losses, 0 ties for 3 points. They are
eighth (last) in the East. Their goals for and against is 14 to 46
so tonight's score is almost as close to a 1-3.75 to hit as close
to their average score as possible.

* This stadium is where my regular soccer watching started in the 1988
season when I watched North York Rockets of the "Canadian Soccer League
(1987-1992)" [Wikipedia name to distinguish it from the later league]
from their second year onward. That first game against the defending
champs Vancouver 86ers where Rockets being the worst team in the
inaugural season pulled a 3-1 upset in front of a sellout crowd—the
stands were full and folding metal chairs were brought in to line the
track into the endzone. I think the crowd was announced as 3000 to 3200
and the only time I remember it ever selling out. North York mayor
Mel Lastman gave a short speech that night (Toronto mayorship wouldn't
come until years later and he campaigned against amalgamation!).
My younger self often walked there and sometimes beat the then
30-minutes-between bus service of those nights.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01
 

[Kent]

As much as I'd like to see L1O eventually split into a couple divisions with pro/rel, Windsor is probably showing why even in an area as relatively small as southern Ontario that regional divisions may be necessary. I am definitely still hoping for more of a geographical footprint too. Hopefully this is just a rough patch for them and doesn't have to be the norm. I haven't heard of any similar problems for OSU Force (based in Ottawa) this season, has anybody else?

[Gopherbashi]

They really need to put in some legwork to populate midwestern Ontario.