Result of the exhibition game between Toronto Serbian White Eagles of the CPSL and Toronto Lynx of the USL played Saturday May 6th, 2006 at 6:00pm at The Soccer Centre in Vaughan. The weather was cool with a strong breeze from the north.

It was a full 90 minute game with unlimited substitutes but I didn't notice any player returning to the game after being subbed off. I didn't have the lineups and had never seen the expansion team White Eagles before. Most of them had numbers on their uniforms. The Lynx had numbers on their shorts and small numbers on their chests that were hard to see staring into the sun. So no-shot-by shot commentary from me.

The only goal was at the 53 minute mark when "Clayson" (from Brazil) scored from the Lynx on a low 15 yard shot from the right to the left corner of the net beyond goalie Belic. Gordon Chin had given Clayson the pass.

"Carmelo" (from Chile) played goal for the Lynx and earned the shutout without much to do after the 22nd minute when Viciknez on a rush down the right wing held off Rick Titus long enough to send a 20 yard shot that the diving goalie pushes into his right post and the ball deflected for a cornerkick. White Eagles other good chance came when Milic blasted a shot off the bar from 15 yards at 81 minutes.

At 82 minutes, Lynx Jeremy Sheppard had his team's next best chance when he was centered a cross in the box and he took a point blank 5 yard shot that was blocked by the already prone goalie. Ryan Anstey had a blast from 12 yards at 36 minutes after a cornerkick from the left was knocked down for him but his shot was just high and right of the top corner of net. At 75 minutes, Jamie Dodds took a cornerkick from the left that had a leaping Damien Pottinger head over the net from 5 yards.

Lynx head coach Duncan Wilde wasn't at the game. 1st string goalie Theo Zagar was not used during the game nor was Matthew Palleschi and Darren Baxter. Tony Menezes was away this weekend with the Canadian National team in a training camp in Florida.

Midfielder Robbie Aristodemo played in the center rather than wing. Chris Williams played a strong game on the wing. Jamie Dodds took about half the cornerkicks and Elio Perreiro (new player, Brazilian?) the other half as well as getting away some good shots. Perreiro almost scored at 83 minutes when he received a high forward pass and flicked a header from 12 yards over the charging goalie but it landed on the top of the netting.

As the game wore on, the Lynx played more and more of the game in the White Eagles end and they would have to settle for counterattacks. Their strong defence limited the number of Lynx chances. I was disappointed by the Lynx at the beginning of the game as I wanted more shots on net instead of balls being blasted wide or high. The team has not scored in their two USL league games and lost to Toronto Croatia (CPSL) 2-1 played in a game earlier in the week in Mississauga. It does look like the Lynx are shaking things up with new players trying out and an important signing this coming week for a proven USL all-star.

Referee Joe Fletcher confirmed at the end of the game he'd given out one yellow card to each team in this fairly tame game.

Attendance was about 100 and White Eagles were definitely the home team with the cheers for them and the gate keeper collecting $10 from attendees and selling season passes. 100 for a pre-season game is very good for the CPSL and this team is off to a good start already. The team communicates in Serbian but the bench was friendly enough to identify the player when I asked who took a shot. They seem to have the same problem as the Lynx with a lot of new players that they don't know yet. Their next game is another exhibition game this Friday against Santa Clara of Portugal at 7:30pm in Lamport Stadium. Lynx next game is their home opener against Rochester on Saturday at 4:00pm.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca

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