August 25, 2008 CSL Week 15 Summary (from CSL media release)
Astros win big with a hat-trick by forward Jonathan Hurtis, Portugal impressive in 5-2 defeat of TFC Academy and Italia, Serbia tie 1-1 in fight for International Division honours.......In Saturday action, Lions upset Trois-Rivieres Attak 2-1.....Border Stars dominate London 5-1
2008-08-24
Italia Shooters blank Croatia to strengthen hold on International Division while Portugal improve playoff chances with 3-2 win over Serbia
An alround outstanding performance including a hat-trick by North York Astros' forward Jonathan Hurtis lifted his team to a 5-1 away victory over St. Catharines Wolves Sunday afternoon and at the same time at The Soccer Centre in Vaughan, Portugal FC improved its chances for a playoff berth while enjoying a 5-2 win over TFC Academy. In another Sunday afternoon encounter played at Maple, Italia Shooters were held to a 1-1 tie by close International Division rivals Serbian White Eagles, but the point earned Italia the top position in the fight with Trois-Rivieres Attak for the favoured top playoff spot. On Saturday afternoon, a late first half winning strike by Brampton Lions midfielder Miles O'Connor gave his side a 2-1 victory over Trois-Rivieres Attak at the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres, while at Windsor the Border Stars improved their playoff prospects by dominating the visiting London City to win 5-1. On Friday night, Italia Shooters earned a 2-0 shutout over Toronto Croatia and Portugal FC upset Serbian White Eagles 3-2 on their home ground at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke.
The improving Astros gained their ninth win of the season starting with a goal by Hurtis at 13 minutes, St. Catharines tied it 1-1 when Calvin Rosario found the net at 39 minutes, Hurtis put his side ahead 2-1 at 44 minutes for a 2-1 North York lead at the interval.
Selvin Lammie scored his 12th goal of the season to make it 3-1 for the Astros at 70 minutes, Hurtis completed his hat-trick at 83 minutes for a 4-1 score and Hurtis completed an outstanding afternoon when he moved a pass to Josue Arias who scored the visitors' fifth goal for a 5-1 final score.
Portugal FC needed a win to move into playoff contention, but the eventual resounding defeat of TFC Academy was in doubt until well into the second half. Ilailson Da Silva gave the Portuguese team a 1-0 lead immediately after the kickoff and Eros Olazabal equalized for the academy team at 34 minutes. Portugal captain Danny Amaral made it 2-1 from the penalty spot at 45 minutes following a tripping incident in the TFC penalty area, his second goal of the weekend and 7th of the season.
Da Silva scored his second goal for a 3-1 score for Portugal at 56 minutes, Mike DiLuca made it 4-1 at 89 minutes and Wigor Gomes increased the lead to 5-1 at 91 minutes. Defender Domenic Roberts scored TFC's second goal two minutes later.
Jarret Humphreys started in goal for TFC Academy but was substituted on being injured at 62 minutes by Soitiri Varlokostas.
Nikola Budalic struck for Serbian White Eagles at 19 minutes in the game with International Division leaders Italia Shooters and Doug Sereto equalized at the 39 minute mark. Italia maintains its top position and takes over first place in the overall standings with 35 points.. The top eight teams enter the CSL playoffs with the first four gaining favoured positions for a home draw.
Daniel Nascimento opened the scoring for Brampton at Trois-Rivieres on Saturday, he scored at 18 minutes from the penalty spot when the home side was penalized for dangerous play. It was Nascimento's 13th goal of the season to lead the CSL scoring race, but his game was cut short when the prolific striker was shown the red card for a dangerous play at the mi-point of the second half.
Attak forward Pierre-Rudolph Mayard tied the game 1-1 at 29 minutes, but O'Connor hit the winner at 42 minutes for Brampton which moved the Lions into sixth place in the overall standings for an improved chance at one of the eight available playoff berths.
It was just the Attak's third defeat of the regular season, but it comes at a time the Quebec side looks for the favoured top seed position in the playoffs, important when the successful teams are looking for a home draw.
Windsor Border Stars also improved their playoff chances with a resounding 5-1 victory over winless London City. Robby Malbasic kicked off the scoring at 3 minutes, forward Tom Eller made it 2-0 at 23 minutes, Tom Kitnas scored the Windsor third goal two minutes later, Mat Robidini made it 4-0, Fil Rocca scored the fifth at 82 minutes and Andrew Loague struck his 11th of the season for London to make it 5-1 in favour of the border team.
Forward Kadian Leckie scored both goals for Italia Shooters in the York Region team's win over Toronto Croatia on Friday night, he scored at 14 and 22 minutes and the win was never in doubt as the International Division leaders held on to the two-goal margin throughout. The victory puts Italia tied for first place with Trois-Rivieres Attak in the overall playoff race, each have 34 points.
The game at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on Friday was very much in doubt until the last kick of the ball with Portugal FC leading 3-2, the winning goal scored by Portugal captain Danny Amaral who headed home a cross with just seconds remaining.
Portugal opened the scoring at 39 minutes when Wigor Gomes took a rebound from a hard drive by Ramon Bailey and it was Bailey who made it 2-0 at 61 minutes when he collected a ball down the middle to score with ease.
Milos Vucinic cut the lead for Serbian White Eagles, a goal at 78 minutes and Daryl Gomez tied the score for Serbia, a drive from 40 yards at 85 minutes for one of the more spectacular goals scored this season.
The game was heading for a 2-2 final until Amaral headed the winner.
The Playoff Race following Sunday's games: Place Team G Points 1 Italia Shooters 16 35 2 Trois-Rivieres Attak 17 34 3 Serbian White Eagles 16 30 4 North York Astros 17 29 5 Toronto Croatia 16 25 6 Brampton Lions 16 23 7 Portugal FC 15 22 8 Windsor Border Stars 17 20 9 St. Catharines Wolves 15 16 10 TFC Academy 16 16 11 London City 17 2
There is one mid-week game in the Canadian Soccer League:
Wednesday August 27 – 8:15pm Club Roma – St. Catharines Wolves vs. Brampton Lions FC
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