Saturday June 21, 2003
NEWS
WIZARDS OVERCOME 1-0 DEFICIT TO DEFEAT LAVAL DYNAMITES 3-1 ; UNBEATEN SUPRA DEFEATS METRO LIONS 2-1
Ottawa Wizards overcame a half time deficit to defeat Laval Dyanmites at the OZ Stadium on Saturday afternoon and later in the day Toronto Supra remained unbeaten with a 2-1 victory over Metro Lions.
Hamilton Thunder and North York Astros moved to the top of the Western Conference standings with wins in the Canadian Professional Soccer League on Friday, while London City picked up its first win of the season against Vaughan Sun Devils at The Cove in London.
Ottawa Wizards’ striker Alen Marcina had a penalty kick saved by Laval Dynamites goalkeeper Nicolas Pinto late in the second half of the game played at the OZ Stadium on Saturday afternoon, but Marcina kept up a hot pace in the individual scoring race with a pair of goals during a 3-1 Ottawa victory.
Khalid Mensah put Les Dynamites in front after 26 minutes for a 1-0 half time lead and it took a solo effort by Ottawa midfielder Urbain Some who beat three defenders to level the score at the 68th minute mark. Alen Marcina scored his first when he took a pass from Malawi international Peter Mponda to put Ottawa ahead after 72 minutes and at 93 minutes in injury time Marcina was put in the clear by team-mate Abraham Osman to score his second goal for the 3-1 win. The goals were Marcina’s 7th and 8th of the season.
It’s the Wizards’ fourth win of the season and they now have a 4-0-1 record for 13 points at the top of the Eastern Conference, while Laval Dynamites are at 2-1-0 for six points.
At Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough just a few hours later, Toronto Supra maintained its unbeaten record with a narrow 2-1 win over Metro Lions, a game decided when Supra’s Michal Di Luca scored from the penalty spot at the 80th minute mark when the teams were tied 1-1 following a hard fought encounter throughout.
Following a scoreless first half, Supra took the lead on a goal at the 63rd minute by Danny Amaral, but it took just two minutes for Lions to tie the game on a goal by Maxim Dorneval.
The win was Supra’s third of the season for a 3-0-1 unbeaten string and 10 points for second position in the Eastern Conference. Metro Lions worsen to 0-2-1 with two points.
On Friday night, Hamilton Thunder blanked Toronto Croatia by a 3-0 score on second half goals by Denny Velastegui at the 53rd minute mark, Ian Bennett at 80 minutes and David Simpson put the third Hamilton goal past Croatia goalkeeper George Azcurra seven minutes later.
It was Hamilton’s second win for a 2-0-1 WLT record and 7 points for the top position on goal average over the improving North York Astros who also have 7 points following their 2-0 win over Durham Flames at the Civic Stadium in Oshawa.
Boris Krimus opened the scoring for the Astros and when the Flames struggled for the entire second half to get on even terms, Guillermo Compton Hall made sure of the North York win with his first goal of the season at the 90th minute mark
Astros are at a 2-1-1 WLT record in the early season standings.
London City were full marks for their first win of a new campaign, taking a 2-0 second half lead over Vaughan Sun Devils on goals by Matt Cuthbert after 53 minutes and defender Erik Elmauer at the 76th minute mark. Cameron Medwin, a former City player returned to Cove Road to score the lone marker for the Sun Devils. London are at 1-2-1 with four points for the season, while Vaughan are winless at 0-1-1.
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